Text of Rabelani Dagada’s letter to Mr James Selfe, Chairperson of the Federal Executive, Democratic Alliance, 11 July 2018
Dear Mr Selfe,
SUBJECT: IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION FROM THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE (DA)
After careful consideration, I have decided to resign as a DA member with immediate effect. The Party’s handling of unlawful disciplinary procedure which has been instituted against me is an indication that the DA is impartial in this matter, unreasonable, and hell-bent on destroying my political career. It is in this premise that I have no choice but to immediately terminate my membership of the DA and move on.
It is interesting to note that the DA only started to institute disciplinary hearing against me after I wrote to the Speaker of the Council, Cllr Vasco da Gama, demanding to appear before the Council Ethics Committee, and after I issued a statement on the 27th February 2018 reiterating this.
After the Executive Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba, removed me from the Mayoral Committee on the 15th January 2018, he issued a statement in which he accused me of corruption, nepotism, price fixing, and victimisation of some City officials. I am now in possession of the final investigation report. Quite significant, it does not contain findings which support any of the accusations made by the Executive Mayor against me. There are also no findings that assert that I acted favourably towards individuals, officials, and service providers closely associated with me, as claimed by Cllr Mashaba.