The gloves are off as councillors in the Minority Front take on the party’s leaders.

On Monday, the party’s eThekwini caucus raised issues of financial irregularities, nepotism, and a lack of democracy at their weekly meeting.

However, the party leaders, including Shameem Thaukur-Rajbansi, failed to attend the meeting.

Ismail Cassimjee, the party’s eThekwini caucus chairperson, described as “disrespectful” their non-attendance.

He accused his seniors of having “cold feet”and not wanting to discuss issues relating to the party’s finances.

“We know of two cheques that were made out to religious organisations which subsequently ‘bounced’.

Ismail Cassimjee

 

“We believe that we should be made aware of the financial status of the party. We have not seen a single financial statement. We do not know who our accounting officers are or how they were appointed,” said Cassimjee.

Some of the issues councillors want addressed include: –

* Financial statements for the party shortly before and after the death of Amichand Rajbansi.

* Who is the accounting officer of the party?

* How was the accounting officer appointed?

* And whether this appointment was in line with regulations set down by the Independent Electoral Commission, from which the party receives its funding.

Cassimjee also said that councillors were baffled by certain appointments within the Minority Front after the death of their former leader, Amichand Rajbansi, claiming that it “smacked of nepotism”.

These include: –

* Jaidev Maharaj, Thakur-Rajbansi’s brother-in-law, in the position of national researcher.

* Anesh Maharaj, also Thakur-Rajbansi’s brother-in-law, as the Minority Front’s legal adviser.

* Rajesh Singh, allegedly Thakur-Rajbansi’s cousin, in the position of KZN Researcher.

* Sunitha Maharaj, Thakur-Rajbansi’s sister, as chairperson of the National Executive Committee.

Cassimjee said that councillors were not even aware that the party had a National Executive Committee (NEC).

“To the best of my knowledge there is no NEC operating in the MF. There have not been any elective conferences so it is shocking to see documents in the public domain listing names of people that make up an NEC.

Cassimjee was referring to documents lodged in court in connection with an application by Roy Bhoola to keep his MF seat in the National Assembly.

Visvin Reddy, a former lieutenant in the MF, who was instrumental in setting up the party’s constitution, said the party had never held an elective conference nor did it have a NEC during his time with the party.

Another former MF councillor, Paris Singh, who spent almost 15 years with the party, also denied any knowledge of a NEC.

“I left the MF in March 2011. During my term with the MF there was no National Elective Conference or a NEC in place,” said Singh.

Cassimjee said he was part of a group that wanted the MF to be democratic.

“There is a clear indication of the autocratic behaviour of a leader within a so-called democratic party. At the end of the day, we owe our positions to our voters and we have to stand up for what is right by them,” he said.

The speaker of the eThekwini Municipality Logie Naidoo, said that his office received a letter from the chairman of the Minority Front’s eThekwini caucus, Ismail Cassimjee, stating that the caucus had taken a decision to remove Patrick Pillay from the party’s Exco seat.

Subsequent to that, he received a letter from Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi stating the caucus had no authority to make that decision and that it was not ratified by the party’s leadership.

“We realise that there is a problem within the Minority Front and we will not meddle in party matters.

“Until we receive a collective decision from the party with regards to this matter, we will not act.

“As it stands, Patrick Pillay remains in the party’s Exco seat in the eThekwini Municipality,” said Naidoo.

Shameem Thakur-Rajbansi responds:

1. Jaidev Maharaj has been the Minority Front’s Gauteng National Organiser since 1999 and our National Researcher. He is my former brother-in-law, but was appointed by Mr Rajbansi.

2. Anesh Maharaj has been the MF attorney since 1998 and was appointed by Mr Rajbansi. He is unrelated to me since he is divorced from my sister.

3. Sunitha Maharaj, was a councillor in eThekwini from 2000 to 2003 but resigned for personal reasons. She was the MF’s candidate for the 2011 Local Government Elections but was not appointed. She remains the chairperson of the Minority Front Executive Committee, which is an unpaid position, but was retained by Mr Rajbansi for her legal expertise because she is a lawyer. She is my sister.

4. Rajesh Singh was the MF’s Msunduzi Councillor from 2000 to 2006. He was selected by Mr Rajbansi to be the MF researcher since July 2011, but due to our leader’s subsequent illness, his appointment was finalised by me. He is unrelated to me, save to say we belong to the same religious institution.

5. The MFEC ( Minority Front Executive Committee) met frequently. However, after the demise of Mr Rajbansi and due to party adjustments we had not met so frequently.

6. The last National Conference was after the 2009 Elections.

7. The eThekwini caucus has not requested party financials as it is a well known fact that the financials which have been ratified by the accountant as of 31 May 2012 are now currently being audited by the auditor and audited financials will be ready as of 30 June 2012. These will be submitted to Parliament and will be incorporated into the annual report by at least August this year. These are public documents, which councillors, the media and interested people will have access to.

8. The two cheques that you refer to were returned due to a delay on the side of the two banks through which Parliamentary Funds are cleared and not due to a lack of funds as you have been misinformed.

9. Currently I am the Leader of the Minority Front. The other positions which I occupy are that of the National Chairperson, and National Treasurer as well as Head of the MF Women’s Association, but this was unavoidable due to the sudden death of our leader and the meeting that I have called for in July of this year will address the necessary changes that will have to be made.

10. The only family member that I currently have in an elected position is Mrs Shireen Bhoola, wife of Mr Bhoola, by way of family marriage. She has indicated to the caucus that she will not stand for elections in 2016, therefore in my opinion I will not be having any family in the MF.

It is quite clear that in the MF we do have full blown democracy but gross immaturity and inefficiency due to autocratic hypocrisy, fuelled by ruthless hidden agendas of a small clique. They neglect their elected duties by being regular party pimps to the press, while in our offices complaints pile up on a daily basis from their wards. In the final analysis the public can be the judge why councillors did not question the late Mr Rajbansi for the decisions he made. Now that he is not here to answer, a few grumpy males are looking at me as a soft target as a woman. I view this behaviour as cowardly and such individuals should never hold public office. – POST