Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Karabo Khakhau has withdrawn from the party’s race for Deputy Chairperson of the Federal Council.
The DA will hold its federal council leadership elections next month in Johannesburg, with Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis being seen as the frontrunner to succeed party leader John Steenhuisen, who withdrew in February.
In a statement issued to the media on Saturday, Khakhau said she was forced to step aside after the party’s Free State and federal leadership refused to issue her a letter of good financial standing over a missed tithe, which she has since paid in full.
“It is with a heavy heart that I write to you to inform you of my forced withdrawal from the Deputy Chairperson of Federal Council leadership race”, she said.
“I, in July last year, mistakenly missed a tithe payment. I had paid all my tithes from January to June and continued to pay my August and September tithes. On the 14th of October, a day before payday, the Free State Provincial Director issued me a letter of demand for the outstanding July tithe of R4,250.
“I, within 24hrs, paid RB 500 for the outstanding July tithe and my October tithe. I continued to pay all my monthly tithes to date. I do not owe the DA a cent”.
Khakhau added that despite having settled the outstanding payment, the DA’s Free State Provincial Executive Committee and the federal leadership upheld their decision.
“However, the DA Free State PEC took a decision to not grant me a letter of good financial standing and this decision was sustained by the DA’s FedEx. This is despite there being precedents of leaders who found themselves in similar situations in previous congresses but were afforded the opportunity to battle it out fairly in the polls. Some successful incumbents.
“As a result, I am disqualified from rolling out my vision of building structures and winning the future.
“This race was personal for me. It was a deliberate push back against those who seek to abolish the existence of ancillary structure in our party.
As a product of ancillaries, I know firsthand what value they hold. In ancillaries, leadership is cultivated, ideas are born and sharpened, and communities are spoken to directly”.
