Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie and ActionSA MP Dereleen James are embroiled in a brewing legal and political drama.
The dispute stems from a parliamentary ad hoc committee proceeding where James raised questions regarding the PA leadership’s purported links to organised crime figures.
In a subsequent Facebook Live broadcast, McKenzie addressed the matter, saying he maintains 24-hour security, a statement ActionSA interpreted as an implicit threat.
On Tuesday, James escalated the matter by filing criminal charges of intimidation against McKenzie at the Cape Town central police station.
“Attempts to intimidate me will not stop me from probing every possible link to the drug cartels destroying our community,” James said. “Attacks on me as an MP carrying out my constitutional duties to expose criminal capture are unacceptable and will be dealt with in accordance with the law.”
In response, McKenzie lodged a formal complaint against James with parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests.
PA spokesperson Steve Motale said James breached several provisions of the code of ethical conduct, including the requirements to act in accordance with public trust, place public interest above personal or political gain and refrain from using derogatory language or bringing parliament into disrepute.
Motale dismissed the allegations of intimidation, claiming McKenzie’s remarks were deliberately mischaracterised.
“McKenzie did not mention his security detail as a warning, or as a suggestion that James should fear for her safety,” Motale said. “He referred to his continuous security presence for one reason only: to demonstrate the practical impossibility of the allegations being made against him.”
The PA contended James’s interpretation was “deliberately stripped of its context” to create a false narrative of danger.
“For James to try to twist anything said during such a Facebook Live into a threat against her is nothing short of absurd.”
TimesLIVE
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