The official reasons why Western Cape welfare MEC Peter Marais was fired from the provincial cabinet and as leader of the region's legislature were, to quote Premier Gerald Morkel, for making "certain controversial pronouncements over a lengthy period".
He is also alleged to have falsely claimed that New National Party (NNP) leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk had approved these pronouncements.
Morkel released a statement on Monday explaining that Marais' actions led to a confidence crisis which left him (Morkel) with no option but to fire him and ask that he be brought before a disciplinary committee.
The real reasons are: Marais' stubborn refusal to toe the official party line, together with his protracted sometimes real/sometimes perceived flirtation with the African National Congress (ANC).
The "flirtation" issue bubbled vigorously to the surface last Friday when the MEC in Morkel's office, Freda Adams, was called to account for statements to the effect that Marais and Pierre Rabie (MP for Bredasdorp) were about to cross to the ANC.
It's an election year and political analysts speculated on Monday that it was perhaps prudent for the NNP to dump Marais now, rather than face the possibility of losing him closer to the election.
On the other hand, Marais is the NNP's foremost populist leader and his loss - if he leaves the NNP - will shake the party.
Marais said of his dismissal: "The issue concerns our strategy in handling inter-party relations."
Apparently the straw that broke the camel's back was a letter he wrote, intended for publication in local newspapers, taking the NNP's provincial coalition partner, the Democratic Party, to task.
Marais said: "This letter was written by me in response to a letter (DP leader) Tony Leon wrote recently and sent to all newspapers, in which he said his party was not prepared to work with weak parties and parties that are already dying. I wrote this letter in response to that, to try and protect the NNP's image,."
The ANC provincial leader and opposition leader in the legislature, Ebrahim Rasool, said at a press conference later: "We have been saying for a long time that the coalition is unstable because the NNP is unstable.
"The NNP is divided between Morkel, the face of the Broederbond in the party, and Peter Marais, on the other hand, who has emerged as a spokesperson for coloured assertion."
Rasool announced that on Monday the ANC had moved a motion of no confidence in the premier and his executive in terms of the Western Cape constitution. The matter would probably go to the vote tomorrow.
If the ANC musters a simple majority, Morkel and his entire cabinet would have to resign under section 51 (2) of the constitution, and a coalition government reformed.
Ironically, new NNP back-bencher Marais could hold the key to this vote. There are 42 seats in the house, of which the ANC has 18. The African Christian Democratic Party and United Democratic Movement each have one seat.
If both these minority parties are persuaded to vote with the ANC, Marais' vote could prove crucial. If he votes with the ANC, and persuade just one of his NNP colleagues to follow suit, the ANC motion will succeed.
Rasool said: "We are working in tandem with others to find four other delegates to support the motion."
Marais said he believed in engaging all interested parties to fight against poverty, including the ANC. After all, did the ANC not hold the national purse strings?
He also believed the NNP could "work well" with the DP in the Western Cape, provided the DP "doesn't try to put anything in the way of poverty eradication".
There were quite a few things he had said over a lengthy period which could have got him into trouble.
"They all relate to my not being in favour of a total free market system, but a convergence of two systems to fight poverty."
He said his one regret was that he was busy drafting a policy document for poverty eradication, for which he'd engaged a consultant. The policy was scheduled to have been announced next month. "This is what I stand for. Whatever happens I will not stop fighting for the underdogs."
Marais said party leader Van Schalkwyk had given the go-ahead for the response to Tony Leon's letter to be published.
"I did not attribute anything to Mr Van Schalkwyk that I shouldn't have. It's a matter of how the top executive interpreted it," he said.
According to Van Schalkwyk: "The reason for today's action is that Mr Marais, when he had to account in the Western Cape for certain matters and pronouncements, offered the excuse that his pronouncements are part of a strategy for which he had the national leader's approval and for which he was never reprimanded or repudiated.
"Mr Marais was called in this morning (on Monday) to explain his remarks to myself in the presence of Mr Gerald Morkel and the other two deputy chairpersons of the NNP in the Western Cape, Mr Frik van Deventer and Mrs Martha Olckers.
"In the meeting, he denied that he ever made the statements, notwithstanding an unanimous report to the contrary. In reality, a lot of energy was invested in reprimanding and disciplining Mr Marais. His recent actions cannot be excused. It led to a breach of trust, rendering his presence in certain positions untenable."