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At a time when the DA has approached the Electoral Court, falsely alleging that ActionSA is withholding candidates from the public, it has been revealed that the DA’s system for constructing its PR list has placed a self-confessed sextorter of a minor in position 2 on the Garden Route District List.

More concerningly, when the safety of women and children has never been a more sensitive issue in our country, ActionSA demands that the Democratic Alliance explain how the very same Federal Executive that finalised the disciplinary matter saw fit to approve a PR list with the offender in a highly electable position for the incumbent Deputy Mayor, who continues to ‘serve’.

In 2024, Raybin-Gibbs Sylvester Figland, then serving as the Deputy Mayor of the George Local Municipality, was found against by the DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC) for allegedly extorting a minor. The FLC also made recommendations to “red flag” Figland’s candidacy for the 2024 NPE, and added that Figland should pay for the victim’s therapy for the psychological damage incurred as a result of his improper relationship with her.

Most shockingly, the FLC also found that a possible transgression of the Children’s Act 35 of 2005 or the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 had been committed.

The DA would like South Africans to believe, as it is arguing before the courts, that a PR list constructed and ranked by the party is key to transparency. The Figland matter should show anyone that the DA doesn’t know what it is talking about.

In the City of Cape Town too, a bogus “Doctor” who admitted to lying about his qualifications is ranked 4th on the DA’s PR list in that municipality.

The DA has dragged ActionSA and other parties to court over their single-name PR lists, yet fills its own with alleged “sextorters” and admitted liars. These are the decisions made in the smoke-filled rooms of the DA’s FedEx, where no South African has a say. This is how parties circumvent the will of the people, by parachuting in candidates who would have no chance of getting elected had their names been on the ballot paper.

ActionSA’s PR list ranking system is the most transparent of any party. It offers voters the opportunity to voice their support for our publicly nominated ward candidates, with our PR list then being ranked after the elections using these same ward candidates in order of performance. That way, it is South Africans who construct our PR lists, and I am quite confident that they will not choose a sextorter of minors to be placed in an electable position.

ActionSA gives voters names and a choice; the DA gives voters sex pests.

All this considered, we ask South African voters a simple question: which system is better?

Issued by ActionSA National chairperson Michael Beaumont