'I belong to both parties'
2007-09-10 16:12
Cape Town - City councillor Badih Chaaban says he is a member of both the African Muslim Party and the newly-formed National Peoples Party, as both allow dual membership.
But he has asked the AMP leadership for permission to formally cross to the NPP, taking his council seat with him.
He was speaking on Monday after appearing at an NPP media briefing in a city hotel dressed in a blue NPP shirt, with its rainbow logo.
"I am a member of the NPP. In fact, I was one of the founder members of the NPP," he said afterwards.
"One can wear many hats in politics. You only have to look at what Helen Zille is doing - she's mayor, and leader of the Democratic Alliance - and what Patricia de Lille is doing. But we are open about it: we say there's no hidden agenda."
Chaaban, who is the AMP's sole representative on the city council, said he had asked the AMP leadership for permission to cross over to the NPP.
'A man of principles'
"Indications are that I'm probably going to get a positive response to my request," he said.
Asked why he needed permission, he said: "Because we work in the party (the AMP) as brothers."
He said because he came to council as a proportional representation councillor, the seat belonged to the AMP, not to him.
It would be rude, un-Islamic and an act of betrayal to cross simply because the Constitution permitted it.
"I'm a man of principles... I'm a man whose word is his bond," he said.
"I would like to cross over simply because I want to add value to the newly-born NPP."
At Monday's briefing, the NPP announced the names of a new batch of floor-crossers from Western Cape municipalities.
Among them were three more councillors who have defected from the Independent Democrats in the Breede Valley local council, leaving the ID with only one representative there.
Aubrey Titus and Salmon Syster were at the briefing, while party chief executive Faried Stemmet said the third, Glenda Daames, was ill and could not make it.
No difference
They join Tom Pedro, whose defection was announced earlier.
Their crossings make no difference to control of the council, held by the African National Congress with the help of independents.
Also at the briefing was a defecting Witzenberg councillor, Maria Geldenhuys, who claimed that an ID organiser tricked her into signing a blank floor-crossing form on Sunday.
- SAPA