DA kicks out Eastern Cape councillor

The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday stripped Nelson Mandela Bay Metro councillor Stanford Slabbert of his party membership.
 

"The DA has concluded a comprehensive disciplinary process whereby charges were laid against councillor Stanford Slabbert for the circulation of an offensive and racist email," DA provincial leader Athol Trollip said in a statement on Tuesday.
 

This followed a disciplinary hearing that found Slabbert guilty of circulating a racist email about President Jacob Zuma.
 

Slabbert sent an email saying Zuma had more wives than brain cells. The email also slammed the African National Congress for producing "dumb idiots who wait for handouts".
 

The email said Zuma had led a country where a quarter of schoolgirls were HIV-positive because South Africans had "spread the disease more than anyone else in the world".
 

Trollip said the hearing was attended by Slabbert and the legal representative defending him, with the DA providing a prosecution and a disciplinary hearing panel.
 

The recommendation by the provincial disciplinary council was that Slabbert's party membership be terminated after he was found guilty of contravening certain clauses in the DA's federal constitution. 
 

According to the party's federal constitution, any member including a public representative, is guilty of misconduct if he or she fails to carry out his or her duties or responsibilities according to standards set by the federal council.
 

Trollip said: "The actions by Mr Slabbert are contrary to the values of the DA and are condemned in the strongest manner."
 

The hearing panel found the content of the email to be divisive, insensitive and containing statements that can be classified as racial stereotyping and racist by nature.
 

"The forwarding of the email by Mr Slabbert brought the name of the party into disrepute and did not reflect it as being a non-racial party for all voters who subscribe to its principles and values," said Trollip.

-Sapa