’I mean, we knew about her but sometimes you say people will change or think maybe she was not treated fairly elsewhere. All I can say is we tried,’ Mashaba said.
JOHANNESBURG – ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has refuted claims that Dr Makhosi Khoza was not notified about her membership termination saying that e-mails were sent to both her and her lawyers on Monday evening.
ActionSA announced that it was parting ways with Khoza after the senate – the party’s highest decision making body – unanimously found she brought the party into disrepute and acted in a manner that caused disunity.
Mashaba said he was “disturbed” to find that Khoza was in communication with “ringleaders” of a group of dismissed members from Soweto who had previously been found to have acted to deliberately destabilise the party.
The disciplinary report stated that in this communication, Khoza and the ringleader of this group were found to be plotting to “deal with” Mashaba.
The report stated that this conversation took place in close proximity to a protest by these former members outside the City of Joburg Council Chamber in which they could be heard chanting Khoza’s name.
“I mean we have evidence that she was in discussion with these ringleaders. Some of those same people told us what was being discussed. I found it very disturbing to say the least,” Mashaba told Independent Media on Tuesday.
He said the evidence was presented to Khoza but she had not responded to it during the disciplinary processes.
Mashaba said furtehr that the party’s senate convened its meeting at 6pm on Monday and concluded by 7pm.
“Just after we concluded the meeting, e-mails were sent to (Khoza) and her legal team notifying her of the outcome of the meeting. She must go and see her e-mails and ask her lawyers about the e-mail. Our statement was only sent to the media this morning but she was notified last night,” Mashaba said.
The party instituted a disciplinary inquiry into Khoza’s conduct in January.
She faced internal charges including bringing the party into disrepute, deliberately acting in a way that negatively impacted the party and acting in a manner that caused disunity in the party.
The party said its ethics and disciplinary committee was unanimous in finding Khoza guilty on all charges and recommending the termination of her membership.
The panel further found Khoza to be prone to conspiracy theories, aggressive behaviour and even continuing to threaten the party with threats to damage its reputation further.
“We have no control over things like this. We can only deal with it as it happens.
“I mean, we knew about her but sometimes you say people will change or think maybe she was not treated fairly elsewhere. All I can say is we tried,” Mashaba said.
Calls and messages to Khoza went unanswered, however, she was quoted by another news agency as having no comment as she did not receive any communication from ActionSA regarding the termination of her membership from the party.
“Subsequently, I have been inundated with calls from the media. I don’t have a comment at this stage, as I have not yet received the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.
“The statement issued is full of misrepresentations of the deliberations of the ActionSA’s ethics and disciplinary committee.I never joined ActionSA on a media platform.
“It stands to reason that my termination of membership cannot happen on same”, Khoza reportedly told the news agency.
– Political Bureau
