THE Congress of the People (Cope) has allegedly terminated the memberships of its deputy president Willie Madisha and secretary for elections, Mzwandile Nhleko.
The party said the decision to fire them was taken in terms of article 25(3)(V) of the party's constitution and was instituted at their National Committee meeting held on Sunday, 25 June.
According Cope's secretary-general Erick Mohlapamaswi, the party would immediately proceed to fill the vacancies. He said Madisha and Nhleko had been served with the termination letter.
The termination letters signed by party Leader Mosiuoa Lekota and Mohlapamaswi dated 25 June, stated that: “This letter is sent to you to communicate a decision of the Congress National Committee (CNC) meeting held today (25/06/2023), having considered your failure to respond to a letter sent to your good-self on Friday the 23rd June 2023.
"The CNC has decided to terminate your Congress of the People (Cope) membership with immediate effect CNC meeting. In line with the above, you are informed of your right to appeal the decision with the acting general secretary within 14 days."
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It further stated that: "Such an appeal should be communicated via email to the AGS for consideration. Consequent to the above, you are therefore requested to return any asset of the party which is in your possession by Friday (30 June 2023) irrespective of your appeal or not."
The party said Madisha, who is also a member of parliament, will also forfeit his seat.
News24 reported that Mohlapamaswi said the decision follows a protracted process of attempts to get the two individuals to remain within the Code of Conduct and the party's constitutional prescripts.
"These processes included formal correspondences, attempts at mediation and legal action to reign in their recalcitrant behaviour that have brought the party into disrepute," he said.
He said that Madisha and Nhleko's unauthorised actions include convening unconstitutional meetings and conferences, abusing party resources, and acting as imposters in positions which were not approved by the congress national committee.
But according to Nhleko, the termination is a joke.
Speaking to Daily Sun, Nhleko said Mohlapamaswi has no standing or the mandate from the party to suspend or fire anyone.
"Mohlapamaswi is a former Limpopo secretary, who was not voted back by the province in our previous election congress. Now he is a friend of Lekota, who he appointed without proper channels to try remove us.
"We were elected by the people and end of July during our elective conference the same people will decide who should stay," he said.
He said the only reason this was happening now was because Lekota’s term in office was coming to an end and he was allegedly using his friends to try stay in power.
“In 2019, Mr Lekota agreed that in the next elections he won't be taking part but because he doesn’t want to lose power and wants to become the Mugabe of Cope, he tries to fire his deputy but that won't work," he said.
Cope has been marred with controversial drama since August 2022, when the party broke into two factions, the Madisha group and Lekota’s faction.
The instability in the party led to fist flying during a press conference in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
