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Cape Town - DA MPL Lennit Max says he intends to appeal the party's Western Cape provincial congress results, claiming the votes tallied amounted to more than the registered voter count.
Max lost the race for the position of provincial leader to Bonginkosi Madikizela at the DA's provincial congress on Saturday. The number of votes for the position were not publicly released, but it is reported that Max lost by 510 votes to 494.
Max claims that there was a total of 987 registered party delegates at the congress, meaning that there were 17 "extra" votes, according to him.
"You can't get more ballots than registered voters," he told News24 on Monday.
"The process is actually unfortunate, but we have to deal with this matter. If it means we have to go to the High Court. We will do so because if we allow practices like this to happen in the DA, it's going to damage the DA."
READ: Madikizela defeats race-baiting in Western Cape DA race
He said he had written a letter to the presiding officer, MP Annelie Lotriet, requesting more information on the congress before launching an appeal.
Max said he would approach DA federal council chairperson James Selfe once he had received the required information.
Lotriet told News24 on Monday that she was aware of Max's complaint.
However, she and the candidates had all signed off on the process on Saturday after the results were announced, and she was then relieved of her duties as presiding officer.
All queries would now have to go through Selfe, who was not immediately available to comment on Monday.
Western Cape DA spokesperson Siyabonga Sesant said Selfe was dealing with the matter and would meet with Max later this week before issuing the party's official response to the claims.
'Deepening factionalism'
The Western Cape ANC has been licking its lips of late following high-profile fallouts in the majority party in the Western Cape.
"The DA Western Cape is now split down the middle and it is clear from this past weekend’s neck-and-neck leadership elections the divisions in the DA is not going to heal anytime soon," ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said on Monday.
He claimed the "vote rigging" to keep human settlements MEC Madikizela and premier Helen Zille in their jobs was evidence of "deepening factionalism" and competing centres of power in the party.
"If Max had won, both... party animal Madikizela and his boss Zille would have had to find a new job today. Zille is still haunted by her 'refugee' and other utterances," he said, alluding to controversial comments Zille has made on Twitter in the past.
He claimed Zille's team, which included mayoral committee "sheriff" JP Smith, outsmarted their opponents.
Smith was elected to one of three deputy chairperson positions on Saturday despite a public bust up with Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille last week.
He also claimed coloured members in the party were "once again snubbed".
"The ANC will be keeping a close eye on the DA as it continues to neglect Cape residents and destroy itself," he added.
