ActionSA terminated the membership of Makhosi Khoza following a meeting of its senate on Monday night.
The party instituted a disciplinary inquiry into Khoza’s conduct in January.
She faced internal charges, including bringing the party into disrepute, deliberately acting in a way that negatively impacted the party and acting in a manner that caused disunity in the party.
According to the party, a disciplinary panel was convened, chaired by Advocate Gill Benson, a former Acting Judge in the High Court, and prosecuted by ActionSA’s Western Cape Provincial Chairperson, Vytjie Mentor.
On Tuesday morning, the party said the senate reached the decision after a recommendation by the party’s ethics and disciplinary committee. The Ethics and Disciplinary Committee was unanimous in finding Khoza guilty on all charges and recommending the termination of her membership.
It added that the evidence brought against Khoza included numerous public utterances and comments made to the media, which were deemed to have been made with the intention of bringing ActionSA into disrepute.
“There is no reasonable explanation for her continued abuse of the party, which she purports to promote. As a high standing member of the party, she disregards the reputational damage to the party for apparent publicity and self-gain. Her loyalties do not lie with ActionSA, and instead, lie with aspiring to grow her own political aspirations, at the great cost of her constituency and ActionSA,” read the disciplinary report.
The report further stated that evidence before the panel demonstrated communication with “ringleaders” of a group of dismissed members from Soweto, who had previously been found to have acted to deliberately destabilize the party.
“In this communication, Khoza and the ringleader of this group were found to be plotting to ‘deal with’ (ActionSA leader Herman) Mashaba. This conversation took place in close proximity to a protest by these former members outside the City of Johannesburg Council Chamber in which they can be heard chanting Khoza’s name,” the report further stated.
In the 24-page report, the disciplinary panel indicated that Khoza had not challenged the evidence placed before the panel, and the panel had no choice other than to consider the case in terms of whether the conduct of Khoza could be excused.
“In this respect, the panel found Khoza to be prone to conspiracy theories, aggressive behavior, and even continuing to threaten the party with threats to damage its reputation further.”
Beaumont said the party had “no ill will” towards Khoza.
“While her actions may not have been excusable, Dr Khoza remains an individual who has played an important role in South African politics. We wish Dr Khoza well in her future endeavors outside ActionSA.”
The eThekwini metro council elected Khoza as chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) in December, a position that has always been occupied by a councillor from the governing party, the ANC.
Following Khoza’s election, there were allegations from within ActionSA’s national leadership that she was colluding with the ANC after their eThekwini councillors unanimously voted for her.