Cape Town - Legal challenges thrown up in the last year loom large over a handful of both past and present members of the Western Cape provincial legislature who will be entering 2023 with the burden of unfinished business on their shoulders.
The year began with the now former Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz facing sexual misconduct allegations, which eventually led to his suspension from the Provincial Executive Committee and his resignation from the DA which he had served as provincial leader.
Fritz denied all the allegations on the basis that the misconduct simply did not take place and while he had threatened to challenge the issues in court, this has yet to materialise.
The dust had barely settled around the Fritz matter when both speaker Masizole Mnqasela and deputy speaker Beverley Schäfer also found themselves in trouble.
Mnqasela, who faced allegations of fraud relating to abuse of travel and entertainment allowances, found himself at loggerheads with the DA leadership which set the Hawks on him and then terminated his party membership leading to the loss of his job as speaker.
Mnqasela, who has since been replaced both as speaker and as an MPL, will be in the courts next year to challenge the DA’s termination of his membership.
Schäfer meanwhile was found guilty, fined and reprimanded by the legislature’s Conduct Committee, which had probed complaints that she refused to downgrade her luxury state-funded BMW X5 when her six-month stint as MEC ended in May 2019.
Over on the opposition benches, former provincial ANC local government spokesperson Danville Smith was forced to adhere to his party’s step-aside rule following allegations of corruption against him.
On top of this, Smith was arrested in June for fraud and attempted car theft after a sting operation following a period of surveillance. He has yet to be replaced in the House.
Meanwhile, his colleague, ANC MPL Andile Lili, is still awaiting sentencing after being found guilty on two counts of attending illegal gatherings and inciting members of Ses’khona People’s Movement to violence in 2015.
Sentencing procedures were postponed until January 19 next year, meanwhile at the end of November Lili made his first appearance in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court for allegedly assaulting the female principal of Enkanini Primary.
This case has now been postponed to January 27 for further investigations.