DA federal council chair Helen Zille has described former DA finance chair Dion George’s exit from the political party as unfortunate.
According to Zille, George’s exit is premature as the party has not concluded investigations into his alleged questionable actions.
“It is unfortunate that Dr George has resigned before answering a pending disciplinary before the DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC).”
On Thursday, George issued a statement announcing he was resigning, as he was being pushed out of the party.
“The situation has become intolerable. I am being pushed out, and it is no longer feasible for me to remain in the party,” said George.
He also accused the DA under Steenhuisen of having been “captured” by the ANC “and other criminal interests”.
“The result of this capture is that the DA has been completely muzzled and lost its voice and its ability to lead in South Africa’s interest,” said George.
Zille said the DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC) was investigating allegations that staff appointments to George’s ministerial office were done in a way that unjustifiably raised their salaries, at public expense; that staff in his ministry sought departmental information to pursue internal party political matters; and whether he brought the party into disrepute through the media.
According to Zille, the party sentiment is that George should have waited out the probe and not ended his membership before proceedings were concluded.
“It would have been preferable for Dr George to go through the FLC process to test the veracity of these allegations.
“The rest of the FLC process will proceed as determined by the DA’s Federal Executive on Monday.”
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