Kohler Barnard faces bills of a different sort

11 October 2015 - 02:00 By JAN-JAN JOUBERT and GARETH VAN ONSELEN

DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard will be hit hard in the pocket if party leaders accept her recommended sentence for bringing the official opposition into disrepute. A panel of three DA members, led by Potchefstroom lawyer Hans-Jurie Moolman, on Friday found Kohler Barnard guilty of bringing the party into disrepute and contravening its social media policy.story_article_left1This was after she shared a social media post by journalist Paul Kirk praising the regime of apartheid president PW Botha.Kohler Barnard - who deleted the posting and apologised for it, claiming not to have read it properly - pleaded guilty. As a result, no witnesses were called at the hearing, heldin room M24 of the Marks Building in the parliamentary precinct.She was represented by Advocate Barry Roux, SC, the high-profile lawyer who acted in court for Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius after he killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.The panel has proposed a harsh sentence to the party's federal executive, which will have a final say on Kohler Barnard's future.Among the panel's recommendations are:• Kohler Barnard will remain an MP;• She has to pay a fine of R20000;• She loses all internally elected DA positions, including as parliamentary whip, which means a loss of income of more than R50 000 a year;• She has to apologise publicly in advertisements in five newspapers, paying for them from her own pocket; and• In an especially humiliating twist, Kohler Barnard, who was a prominent radio journalist before becoming an MP in 2004, has to attend a course in managing social media for which she must foot the bill.On top of the above, Kohler Barnard may face the agony of waiting to see whether the federal executive will confirm the recommended sentence.block_quotes_start This party... no longer knows what it is, and it throws its members under the bus block_quotes_endJames Selfe, chairman of the DA federal executive, said on Friday night that the federal executive would have to wait until it received a full report from the legal panel. He could not guarantee a final decision this weekend.Kohler Barnard, who is said by friends to be shattered by the experience, has gone to ground and could not be reached for comment.Initial reaction within the DA indicated that the issue, and the party's handling of it, may have varied and grave repercussions for the organisation.On the one hand, DA Cape Town city councillor Cyril Mack resigned his proportional seat and joined the ANC, citing systemic racism in the DA with the Kohler Barnard post as an example.But on the other hand, several senior DA members have told the Sunday Times they thought the punishment was excessive and inconsistent with the sanction meted out to DA members breaking party rules before.story_article_right2 "I don't know what the hell is wrong with this party. It no longer knows what it is, and it throws its members under the bus," said a black former MP.A white former MP said: "They have clearly hung Dianne out to dry. If they can do it to her, they can do it to anyone. And all to please the ANC. All they have done is to remove a thorn from the ANC's side, and after all she has done for the DA. I am very unhappy about this."Another former MP also cited the comparatively light sentence recently handed down to MP Archie Figlan, who was fined R12 000, made to do community service and stripped of his (nonremunerative) internal positions after pleading guilty to sexual harassment of a DA staff member."It is very clear that the party will go for you, unless you are one of the protected few. There are different rules for different people in the DA," said a currently serving white MP.joubertj@sundaytimes.co.zavanonseleng@sundaytimes.co.za..

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