Veteran DA Cape Town councillor Nora Grose has been arrested by the Hawks in connection with fraud and money-laundering involving a church in Table View.
Her arrest followed an investigation into the misappropriation of City of Cape Town Covid-19 Food Relief funds unlawfully transferred to the church's bank account.
Mayor of Cape Town Dan Plato launched his campaign to return as the DA's mayoral candidate for Cape Town in local government elections in October at the same church last year.
Soon after Grose's arrest (she has been released on R10 000 bail) Plato announced that the City would cover her legal costs.
Plato's decision to pay the legal costs is itself unlawful. Section 109 A of the Municipal Systems Act provides that a municipalities may provide councillors with legal representation when the legal proceedings arise out of the exercise of their powers or performance of their duties.
The charges against Grose cannot be covered by this section, as the Mayor claims, since the conduct being investigated does not relate to her duties as a councillor.
The DA knows this principle very well because it acted on the same basis to stop former President Zuma's use of state resources to defend himself in criminal proceedings. The court found Zuma was not entitled to use state resources in these circumstances, a ruling upheld on appeal just three months ago.
"Allowing officials to resist being held accountable, by drawing on state resources to obstruct or delay a prosecution, subverts both government and public interest," GOOD Secretary-General Brett Herron said.
"This Grose case is the latest example of the DA asking its supporters and voters to suspend their values and principles when they apply to one of their own. It's both unlawful and the height of hypocrisy."
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