By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Image Supplied.
ActionSA has terminated party membership of Nkele Molapo with immediate effect after an internal investigation found that she had shared party information with former member Abel Tau.
Her termination letter states: “Your relationship with Tau and his continued campaign to damage the party has resulted in a material breakdown in trust between yourself and the party.”
The disciplinary panel was asked to probe the truthfulness of allegations that she actively fished for internal party information, and shared it with Tau.
Tau was dismissed from the ActionSA in November 2022 after allegations of sexual harassment and accusations that he had abused council resources. He was aggrieved by the dismissal and is involved in litigation to challenge it in the Gauteng High Court.
He has since formed his own political party, United Africans Transformation (UAT).
According to ActionSA, Tau used information he received from Molapo for political attacks against ActionSA.
Molapo was also said to have shared an event for UAT in a Tshwane executive WhatsApp group.
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the charges against Molapo were grave and that the party’s leadership took the disciplinary panel’s advice that the evidence warranted the termination of Molapo’s membership.
“Her membership was terminated following an investigation into her conduct, specifically her feeding information about ActionSA to a political competitor in the City of Tshwane, who happens to be her husband. That is a violation of every standard,” Beaumont said.
He stressed that the party had no problems with her relationship with Tau – a fact that was known for years.
But, he said deliberately sharing information and associating herself with comments against the party’s leader, Herman Mashaba, warranted the termination of her membership.
Here is the full statement from ActionSA
ActionSA’s Senate met last night and voted to terminate the membership of Nkele Molapo who was believed to be, in part, responsible for coordinating with some of our councillors who do not support the multi-party Coalition’s decision to support the vote for a new coalition mayor in the City of Tshwane.
ActionSA further notes reports alleging that Senate terminated her membership based solely on her personal relationship which simply isn’t true. Ms Molapo’s relationship with Mr Tau has been a matter of public record for some time.
It is believed that Ms Molapo was involved in gathering information about complaints made against ActionSA members shortly before the information featuring prominently in speeches made by Tau. Ms Molapo also faced a prima facie case which made it clear that she had intimidated and/or harassed members of our Tshwane Caucus in an attempt to destabilise the party.
We wish her well in her future endeavours.
This is Molapo’s second dismissal from a political party.
While serving as a Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor in Tshwane in 2020, her membership was terminated after she was accused of sharing internal party information with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).