CAPE TOWN – Five former City of Cape Town councillors, who resigned in October, are suing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane for defamation.
Suzette Little, Shaun August, Siyabulela Mamkeli, Gregchan Barnardo and Thulani Stemele resigned as councillors and as members of the party on 25 October.
Little says that after the resignations Maimane made defamatory remarks in Limpopo and claimed that they were implicated in the Bowman’s report and were covering up corruption in the municipality.
“We asked Mr Maimane to withdraw his statement, which was false and he did so in a letter but not in the media. When he withdrew the statement, he added another one that said we must be held accountable, we must be running away from something,” Little says.
Little adds that Maimane damaged their reputations.
She says their attorneys have now issued and served a summons on Maimane in which they are each claiming damages in the amount of R1 million from him.
“We received a letter from his attorney saying it was withdrawn in the letter. Because he hadn’t made media statement, we went happy with that, so we consulted with our lawyers and we summoned him.”
In response, the DA’s Solly Malatsi says the party is better off without the former councillors, adding that Maimane’s lawyers will respond in due course to their lawsuit.
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