Masizole Mnqasela said that as speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature, its chief presiding officer and the executive authority of Parliament, it was his responsibility — as assigned by the Constitution — to approach the motion of no confidence submitted against him.

“I thought it was important [to speak about this] instead of keeping quiet and not putting it into context. What does this mean for Parliament? What does it mean for myself?” Mnqasela said at a media conference at his office on Sunday, 27 November. He was addressing the allegations of fraud that led to a motion of no confidence being submitted against him on Friday, 25 November.

News24 reported on Saturday that the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape had submitted a motion of no confidence against its own speaker.

In May, the party charged Mnqasela with misconduct relating to extravagant spending allegations. He was suspended from all party activities.

“If I were to sit back and do nothing, this will be a very grave mistake … That is why it is important that I do what I do in order to shed some light on what it is that we’re dealing with here,” Mnqasela said.

He emphasised that it was his responsibility to see that the rules, as laid out by the Constitution, were followed. He added that the motion of no confidence against him did not make sense as he was being investigated by the Federal Legal Commission (FLC), the DA’s internal investigation unit.

“If Parliament says the speaker must go, the speaker must go … But then there must be a process that is followed … consistent with the Constitution,” Mnqasela said.

Claims denied

Daily Maverick reported in May that Mnqasela was being investigated for alleged wrongful claims for travel, subsistence and entertainment allowances. The speaker denied the allegations against him. 

DA’s Western Cape leaders in hot water over reports of wasteful spending

The DA announced Mnqasela’s suspension from all party-related activities until an investigation had been completed, or until disciplinary proceedings had been instituted against him.

Then, in June, suspended Mnqasela defied his party and attended a conference of parliamentarians in Sierra Leone despite not having permission to travel.

Mnqasela noted that the Auditor-General had given the Western Cape parliament a clean audit for this year.

Mnqasela said he has been in disciplinary hearings with the FLC since October. He said he heard about the motion on Friday, while he was attending an internal hearing. 

“But it was very strange that even that process, that the party itself started, has not been concluded. And now there is a process that must take place in Parliament,” said Mnqasela.

He added that he would not divulge details about FLC meetings as the investigation was ongoing. He said he would speak on the outcome once the process was concluded. 

Mnqasela said no complaint had been submitted to Parliament about him. When he went to the “spending committee” (the provincial parliamentary oversight committee) to present the Western Cape annual report, he said, neither the allegations nor the investigation were raised.

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Hawks’ investigation

Interim leader of the DA in the Western Cape Tertuis Simmers said in May that the party had handed over documentation — including protected disclosures by whistle-blowers — to the Hawks, alleging wrongful allowance claims by Mnqasela.

Mnqasela said he has since learnt that the Hawks were conducting a preliminary investigation to see if they should charge him: “I’ve never been contacted by them. But I’m found guilty through these kinds of attempts to undermine democracy in this Parliament.”

In a post-press conference interview, Mnqasela told Newzroom Afrika’s Clement Manyathela that because he has never been charged, it would be an admission of guilt if he were to step aside.

Loyalty to the DA

During the briefing, Mnqasela denied the allegations again, saying they were “a simple attempt to destroy my character and demonise my person”.

He added: “I’m a politician, so I’m not naive to what may have led to all of that … I dismissed all of those allegations as baseless and malicious … I indicated that it was a political witch-hunt…”

Asked how he felt towards his party, Mnqasela chuckled. “I love my party,” he said, explaining that being in a marriage or a family is different from dating for a short while.

“I’ve been a member of this [DA] family for 20 years … I’m addicted to being in this party. It’s my home, you know, and my blood is royal blue.

“Feelings are allowed to be there … and you are not going to expect that we must agree on everything as a party all the time. There will be times when there will be differences.”

Staying at hotels is ‘policy’

Regarding the allegations made against him, Mnqasela said all members of Parliament can claim for hotels or travel. Often those claims are queried, he said, to see if they were for work or personal and this is administered internally by Parliament.

Mnqasela told Newzroom Afrika that he stays in hotels when attending council sittings in Cape Town because he lives in Hermanus. “In terms of the policies of Parliament, there are provisions that enable members to stay in a particular location if they are working,” he said.

The speaker of the Western Cape legislature Masizole Mnqasela tells me on @Newzroom405 that he has stayed at hotels when attending council sittings instead of his house.When I ask why & if this is not wasteful expenditure,he says “it’s policy, applies to all of us in legislature”

— Clement Manyathela (@TheRealClementM) November 27, 2022

“And if there’s any wrongdoing, Parliament itself will deal with those matters as a Parliament in terms of the policy.” DM