DA to sue ActionSA over false and defamatory 'bribery' statement

17 October 2022

The DA will pursue legal action against ActionSA and interim national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, after he made serious claims against party leaders that they had “bribed” and offered “inducements” to an ActionSA Councillor to join the DA.

The DA can today reveal that the Councillor in question, Mr. Shandy Singh, has deposed an affidavit under oath, that completely contradicts a statement issued by ActionSA on the 11th of October 2022, in the name of Michael Beaumont.

In the statement, Beaumont made a number of direct claims, including that DA Leader, John Steenhuisen, Federal Council Deputy Chair, Ashor Sarupen, DA KZN Leader, Francois Rodgers, Amajuba Constituency Head, Imran Keeka and myself as the DA KZN Chairperson, attempted to bribe a Newcastle Ward Councillor to join the DA.

The so called “meeting” where ASA believes this bribery took place was on the 8th of September 2022 where Mr. Singh was supposedly offered to fill the seat of Zwakele Mncwango in exchanged for joining the DA.

They rely on a photo as proof of this meeting where Mr. Singh was "bribed", except neither Ashor Surupen or myself are in the photo and were never at the meeting in the first place. However, this inducement of offering Mncwango’s seat on the 8th of September 2022 could not have been possible because he only resigned from the KZN Legislature on the 5th of October and as a member of the DA on the 9th of October.

This fact along with the affidavit, is clear evidence that ActionSA have misled the public and wrongfully accused leaders of the DA of committing a serious crime. It is simply not acceptable.

On the 12th of October 2022, through the DA’s lawyers, we sent a letter demanding that the statement be retracted and an apology issued within 24 hours. We further demanded R100 000 each and R100 000 for the DA which would be donated to an organisation fighting corruption. Instead of doing the right thing and complying with our demands, ASA asked for an indefinite amount of time to respond. However, as of today, no further response has been forthcoming.

Therefore, in the interests of justice, we have instructed our legal team to prepare court summons to hold ActionSA and their leaders accountable for these fraudulent and defamatory claims they have made against the leadership of the party and the DA.

Bribery is a serious crime in South Africa and we can not allow political parties like ActionSA to flippantly waste precious Police resources in their never ending obsession with the DA and its leaders.

Issued by Dean Macpherson, DA KZN Chairperson, 17 October 2022