Former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is joining parliament.
The expulsion of the GOOD party’s national organiser Shaun August has left a vacancy in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, which De Villiers will now be taking over, the party announced on Tuesday.
De Villiers was selected by GOOD’s national management committee (NMC) following interviews conducted over the weekend, said Brett Herron, GOOD secretary-general and MP.
The GOOD NMC expelled August and Felicity Klazen, following a year-long investigative and disciplinary process conducted by independent professionals in the wake of the poor performance in a by-election in Witzenberg last year.
Klazen was a councillor and deputy mayor in the Witzenberg Municipality.
August and Klazen were alleged to be “partying too much” instead of rallying for votes during the election campaign, reports IOL.
GOOD is reported to have received only 10% of the votes – a 2% drop compared with the municipal elections result in that same ward previously.
The election campaign reportedly cost the party R200 000.
Herron said August and Klazen were found guilty of serious misconduct and bringing GOOD’s reputation into disrepute.
On Friday, urgent applications by the two axed members were struck off the Western Cape High court roll with costs.
They both wanted the court to set aside the expulsion and to interdict GOOD from stripping them of their positions.
However, legal counsel for the two, Diana Mukote, asked for the matter to be removed from the urgent roll as she had only been briefed an hour before the court proceedings.
The matter would be reinstated at a later stage, she submitted.
Herron said De Villiers has spent the past two years serving his community as a GOOD councillor and caucus leader in the Drakenstein Municipality.
De Villiers had led GOOD’s campaign in the 2021 local government elections in Drakenstein in which GOOD obtained four seats in the council.