The ANC in Western Cape has accused a group of DA politicians close to Premier Helen Zille of "purging" municipal managers the DA believes are "too close" to the ANC.
The party cites the terminating of Breede Valley municipal manager Allan Paulse's contract. It says that when Paulse took over the municipality in 2002 it was bankrupt. The municipality has since received clean audits and was praised by the auditor-general in 2005 for having the "best financial management in years".
Yesterday, the DA denied that Paulse had been forced out.
But documents in the possession of The Times reveal that a team close to Zille was consulted on a recent decision to terminate Paulse's contract.
The team includes Zille adviser Koos Celliers, MEC for local government Anton Bredell, MEC for health and DA provincial leader Theuns Botha, DA MP Kobus Marais and the premier's legal adviser, Fiona Stewart.
According to a source, a labour law consultant working for the provincial government told Paulse to resign just after the DA won the municipality in the May 18 local government elections.
Paulse was allegedly told that, if he did not, the consultant, Thys Gilliomee, would press disciplinary charges against him.
Paulse apparently argued that only DA politicians at the municipality could take such a decision.
Gilliomee reportedly offered to pay Paulse R400000 to relinquish his position.
The source said Paulse refused and asked for R1.050-million to cover the remainder of his contract.
About five weeks ago, Gilliomee allegedly wrote an e-mail in Afrikaans and sent it to the group, referred to as "a war room". It read: "It seems that Mr Paulse is not going to agree to an amount. I don't foresee any movement [on this matter] without [putting] pressure on him. The pressure I refer to is to annul his contract or to take disciplinary action against him."
Gilliomee allegedly later wrote a letter, also in Afrikaans, that read: "The employer is now at the point, given Paulse's attitude, where he [the employer] must choose his weapons. An easier option would be to tell Paulse that his contract expired in 2007. Alternatively, disciplinary action must be instituted against him.
"As previously indicated to you, it seems that Paulse would be able to answer most of the alleged serious transgressions against him."
Gilliomee then allegedly proposed that a senior advocate be hired to provide a legal opinion. The legal opinion has not been made public.
Paulse has since accepted a termination package of R941000.
Zille's acting spokesman, Nick Clelland-Stokes, referred inquiries to Bredell's spokesman, Peter Pullen, who denied the ANC's claims.
"Paulse left the municipality of his own free will after concluding an agreement with the municipality," Pullen said. "Paulse [was the one who] initiated the talks about a severance package [so] the question of disciplinary action never even arose."
He said the decision to sever ties with Paulse was taken by the council at a formal meeting and not by the provincial government.
He said claims of a DA "war room" that purged municipal managers close to the ANC were "pure conjecture, speculative and devoid of all truth. The municipality is an independent sphere of government that takes its own decisions".
Clelland-Stokes said Stewart had "never heard of Paulse" and claimed that Celliers only referred the former Breede Valley mayor to Gilliomee. "That was the end of Celliers's involvement," he said.
But the ANC's leader of the opposition in the province, Lynne Brown, maintained that Zille's office was interfering with the running of the municipality. This, she said, "bordered on illegality".
"Paulse was an exemplary municipal manager. [One cannot find fault in] him other than that he was appointed during the ANC's time. Celliers is Zille's adviser, so what is he doing getting involved in municipal issues? The three spheres of government are supposed to be autonomous," said Brown.
Gilliomee at first said he had "no knowledge" of the case's outcome. When told that The Times had an e-mail that he sent to the "war room", he repeatedly said: "No comment".
Paulse refused to comment.