Mr Sizwe W. Mchunu Tel. : 064 2625 153 E-mail. : [email protected]

Mr Mmusi Maimane Federal Leader – Democratic Alliance Marks Building, Parliament P.O Box 15 Cape Town 8000

Dear Mmusi

I trust this letter finds you well. I write to you as patriotic and concerned citizen of . My writing to you is premised on the principles of social democratic accountability, these are principles which should be easy for you to comprehend given the position you hold as the leader of the Official opposition party in South Africa.

Whilst the Constitution of our beloved country bestows a paramount responsibility upon you and your party to hold the governing party (African National Congress) accountable, you and your colleagues in the Opposition benches are - by virtue of being elected public office bearers - expected to account to the taxpayers who are your ultimate employers.

As I sit down to pen this letter, I do so with an understanding that this past month (September) could well have been a terrible one for you and your party (Democratic Alliance). I say this because it is in this month that South Africans learned that your party is not as clean as you want us to believe.

In the said month we learned of the many issues that are unquestionably detrimental to the image of your party and all that it claims to stand for. Many of these issues were in the public domain but perhaps let me list them so that you are clear which issues I am referring to. Some of the headlines included:

 DA’s Proportional list councillor of Rand West City Local Municipality being arrested for alleged business robbery. Cllr Seth Sekhokho was allegedly not only arrested for business robbery but also for possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

 In KwaZulu Natal, particularly around my hometown Pietermaritzburg, we learned with excruciating pain although we were not surprised that your DA had let its Msunduzi Councillor Rooksana Ahmed off the hook for failure to disclose her criminal record (as required) to both the DA and council. This was despite the fact that compelling and verified evidence to confirm that Cllr Ahmed had a criminal record for fraud had been presented to DA and further confirmed by the Witness newspaper. I guess this is just a inclination of the DA in KwaZulu Natal not to act against a selective troop of individuals when charges are levelled against them and no matter the evidence placed on the table, the leadership shall always selectively cover up for the said selective few. This is because you and (DA’s chairperson of Federal Council) would recall that a similar case of undisclosed criminal record against the current leader of the DA in KwaZulu Natal, was swept under the carpet and absolutely nothing was ever done about it.  Another headline that dominated the street poles of Pietermaritzburg and published by The Witness newspaper read: “Racism row in DA”. This news article captured the residents’ minds and attention. This story was based on a shocking exposé by the DA’s Msunduzi ward 25’s councillor, Councillor Melika Singh, who shared her frustrations following her racial torment by her DA colleagues and leadership. After 3 years of being subjected to awfully painful racism torture, Cllr Singh has written to you for intervention. The Witness newspaper quoted a line from an email that Cllr Singh sent to you, where she says “I have been bullied, intimidated and abused simply because I am not the ‘right colour’ and therefore, should not be leading a strong DA ward”. Surely, you will recall that Cllr Melika Singh’s frustrations could by implication be comparable to experiences of the other seven Msunduzi councillors who have ditched the DA, just in this term of local government alone and subjected your party to enormously costly by-elections. I might well remind you that all the councillors in KZN that have ditched your party happen to be black, coloured and Indian. I guess I also don’t have to remind you about the fact that at some point 100 % of DA councillors in Kokstad, also abandoned the DA for the ANC and you never bothered to investigate the fundamental cause of these mass resignations.  It is again in this same month that we learned of the DA Youth leader’s link to Agrizzi and Mti, through his business or company. The Citizen News online, published a story titled “DA Youth Leader claims he had ‘no knowledge’ of his company’s Agrizzi and Mti connections”

Having said all of the above, I now wish to indicate to you the actual basis or gist of this letter. This letter essentially serves to humbly request you to come clean to South Africans about the benefits, gifts and donations that you have received ever since you became leader of the DA and since you became a member of the national Assembly of South Africa. It is also a request for you to subject yourself to a lifestyle audit as you have always sought to hold others to the highest ever standards and ethics.

At this juncture, I can’t help but recall an open letter you once penned and addressed to deputy president, Honourable David Mabuza. In that letter you wrote “Firstly, I’d like to commend you for agreeing in Parliament to subject yourself to a lifestyle audit. Given the magnitude of the allegations that have accumulated during your time in the Provincial Government – many of them set out in great detail recently in the New York Times – it is crucial that South Africans know the truth. A thorough and Independent lifestyle audit is a good place to start, and I trust that you will make good on this promise.... But I have some more questions for you that won’t be answered by a lifestyle audit. I have reason to believe that you haven’t been completely honest with us about your past interactions with the Guptas and their local proxies, and I would like to afford you the opportunity to come clean.”

In the same spirit of your letter to the deputy president, I hasten to say the allegations about the ownership of “your” Cape Town residence and subsequent U-turn, of you renting the said property, needs to be put to rest. I for one, don’t buy the narrative suggesting it was a pure mistake on your part to include the property in question in the members’ declaration record/parliamentary register as being your own property. Who in his right mind would ever forget whether or not he/she owns a particular property? Was this not in a way, a lie which is tantamount to deliberately misleading of Parliament and South Africans?

It thus becomes paramount for you to once and for all come clean in regards to the ownership or your rental of the property in question. As it is now public knowledge that the Claremont, Cape Town home in which you and your family reside in is owned by Durban businessman Wessel Jacobs, many questions arise. Could it be that Wessel Jacobs is one of the many white prominent businessman financially supporting the DA and you? Is there no benefit, gift, sponsorship etc. that you many have received from Mr Jacobs which you need to declare to parliament? Surely you should by now have realised that divulging the exact rental amount you pay and proof thereof will somewhat help in putting this matter to bed. Why can’t you do just that? Should we conclude that your rent is also sponsored?

It has also emerged that part of your reasons for not residing in the parliamentary accommodation made available for you and opting for a private “rental” property, is because of death threats you have received. It is also concerning that you have not been able to indicate when or whether or not you ever reported the said threats, and what the nature of the threats are.

The media has also drawn a very perturbing link between yourself and Steinhof. The allegations and your admission that you led the DA’s campaign whilst being chauffeured in a Toyota Fortuner SUV which was sponsored by Steinhof’s Markus Jooste, leave so much to be desired.

If you agree with me that Steinhoff is guilty of corporate fraud and other financial irregularities, this act, by implication, makes you and your party beneficiaries of Steinhof’s proceeds of crime. In simple terms, you and the DA are direct beneficiaries of Steinhof’s fraud and irregularities. Again you have an opportunity to come clean in regards to whether or not your received any other sponsors, gifts, benefits etc from Steinhof and Mr Markus Jooste and did you ever declare/disclose any of the said benefits to parliament?

Whilst the country has been observing and following with abated breath the inquiry into the state capture, it would appear to me that the unexpected time and the signs are on the wall for the exposés of the opposition party and leader capture. The question that remains to be answered is whether or not our country has the avenues through which the capture of the opposition and its leader could be investigated. So, Mmusi are you and the DA captured? Would you open yourself and your party to any form of scrutiny, in this regard?

Mmusi Maimane, would you be prepared, willing and avail yourself for a lifestyle audit and an investigation on gifts, sponsorships, benefits etc that you received in your capacity as public representative/member of South Africa’s National Assembly, and never declared or disclosed to parliament?

I look forward to your response. I and millions of tax paying South Africans deserve a response from you.

Regards Mr Sizwe W. Mchunu

Date : 03 October 2019