NPP founded illegally: Uys

Published Feb 11, 2008

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The National Peoples Party (NPP) on Monday rejected a claim by former party spokesperson Juan Uys that the party was set up illegally.

Uys, who quit the NPP earlier this month, said in a statement that by law, a minimum of 50 registered voters had to meet in one place to sign a party's deed for foundation.

He said there was a founding meeting last year at the Cape Town home of party backer Badih Chaaban, but it was attended by mostly Greenmarket Square traders who were either not South Africans or were South Africans not registered as voters.

He claimed current party leader Johan van Niekerk later added the names of family members and friends, who had not been at the meeting, in an attempt to meet the requirements set by the Independent Electoral Commission.

Uys said the party should for this reason be deregistered.

However Van Niekerk told Sapa that this was not the first time this claim had been made against the NPP.

It has first emerged immediately after the party lodged its registration papers with the IEC in June last year.

The IEC had looked into the claim, and only after completing its investigation, over a month later, had it issued the NPP with a certificate of registration.

"This is all false lies about everything," he said.

"We've got our certificate from the IEC. It was done in a professional manner, all legally. I can assure you of that." - Sapa

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