Cape Town - The GOOD party is set to appoint an external investigator to probe claims of misconduct, involving sex and booze, by senior party members.
This comes after Weekend Argus on Sunday exclusively reported that the party’s costly campaign for the Witzenberg by-election in April was marred by booze, skinny-dipping and sex parties.
The allegations were apparently so shocking that party leader Patricia de Lille intervened by summoning members to the Pepperclub Hotel in the CBD halfway through the campaign in an attempt to address the issues at hand.
“The GOOD Party’s National Management Committee has resolved to appoint an independent investigator to get to the bottom of allegations of misconduct by members that marred the party’s performance in a recent by-election,” the party announced in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
GOOD volunteers, who were part of the campaign, wrote 18 detailed statements describing how MPL and national campaign organiser Shaun August and Witzenberg deputy mayor Felicity Klazen, both married, spent their time “sexing” and “partying too much” instead of rallying for votes. Volunteers also described acts of “gehoerdery” (acts of fornication).
The statement further said: “The outcome of the by-election in Ward 2 Witzenberg represented the party’s first electoral setback since being established in 2019.”
The election campaign, which cost the party R200 000, is being described as a “disaster of note” after GOOD received only 10% of the votes – a 2% drop compared to last year’s municipal elections result in that same ward.
“GOOD is represented at all three levels of government, with more than 50 councillors elected in last year’s local government election.
“More important than our representatives are our members and supporters. Integrity is one of the principles that sets GOOD apart from the old South African parties.
“Unwelcome as these allegations are, they do represent an opportunity to demonstrate how GOOD would like the other parties to deal with allegations levelled against their members.”
The matter was also brought up in the National Assembly Plenary when a DA member said: “It seems that under her (De Lille) leadership both her department and her party are in crisis.”
She added: “At every available opportunity honourable Brett Herron of GOOD has demanded that DA act with transparency in investigations, appoint external investigators and widen the scope of the current investigation dealing with sexual harassment claims against a DA leader.
“And yet in deadling with allegations against a GOOD MPL and a GOOD deputy mayor of sexual harassment, skinny-dipping and acts of gehoerdery, I’ll quote, we now need to be satisfied with a blanket claim of confidentiality of their internal processes.
“At least the members of the minister’s party now have a use for the washing line, it seems it is needed to air GOOD stinking panties.”
The chairperson of the sitting thereafter called for a point of order.