Durban — The DA has dismissed ActionSA’s claims that it attempted to bribe an ActionSA ward councillor in Newcastle.
ActionSA said it would be laying charges of bribery against the DA.
DA national spokesperson Cilliers Brink said the party dismisses “with utter contempt the false allegations and threats of criminal charges levelled by ActionSA against the party and various members”.
“The claims are ludicrous at best, and defamatory at worst,” Brink said.
He said ActionSA’s bitter desperation has reached new lows, as they waste the time and resources of the SAPS on lies while South Africans suffer the effects of genuine crime.
“While this marks a new low for this party, it is not the first time that ASA has made wild and unsubstantiated claims to garner media attention,” Brink said.
“The DA will not be sidetracked by the desperation of minnows. While they fight petty political battles, the DA will continue to fight for the people of South Africa.”
Earlier on Tuesday, ActionSA said it would lay bribery charges against DA officials on Wednesday.
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the party would lay criminal charges of bribery against senior leaders of the DA, including its KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Dean Macpherson, “for attempting to bribe an ActionSA councillor from Newcastle”.
Beaumont said this comes after images surfaced of ActionSA ward councillor of Newcastle Shandy Singh meeting DA leader John Steenhuisen, former chief of staff to Helen Zille Ashor Sarupen, Macpherson and DA KZN leader Francois Rodgers.
“ActionSA has been reliably informed that this meeting was convened to offer Mr Singh inducements to leave ActionSA and fill the DA vacancy in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature arising from the resignation of its chief whip, Zwakele Mncwango,” Beaumont said.
He said the Newcastle Local Municipality was recently snatched from the ANC in the 2021 local government elections and was now under a narrow coalition government led by the IFP. Any effort to induce a by-election in a ward won with 30% of the vote would likely be seized by the ANC and used as an effort to restore an ANC government to the municipality.
“We call upon the DA to place the residents of Newcastle ahead of any personal efforts to settle political scores with ActionSA. As an organisation that purports to be principled and committed to the rule of law, it is inconceivable that financial inducements would be used to bribe public representatives,” Beaumont said.
Daily News