Sayed said the premier’s conduct during the Friday morning meeting demonstrated what the party described as “double standards and delinquency.
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Calls for Western Cape Premier Alan Winde to resign have intensified in recent weeks after the Western Cape Provincial Parliament’s Conduct Committee found that he breached the Code of Conduct by failing to disclose sponsored travel to the United States.
Opposition parties previously argued that the finding raised serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the provincial government.
The issue resurfaced on Friday morning during a special meeting of the Standing Committee on the Premier and Constitutional Matters.
The meeting was convened to deliberate on the budget of the Department of the Premier, which reports to the committee tasked with overseeing the provincial executive, provincial public entities, and the implementation of legislation.
During the session, ANC members questioned Winde about the Conduct Committee’s adverse findings against him and asked how residents of the Western Cape could have confidence in his commitment to ethical leadership, accountability, and trustworthy governance.
In response, Winde said he respected the Conduct Committee’s appeals process.
However, the ANC said the premier contradicted himself by simultaneously questioning the integrity of the committee and its application of the audi alteram partem rule, the legal principle requiring that all parties be given a fair opportunity to respond before a decision is made.
By invoking this rule, the premier appeared to suggest that the process followed by the Conduct Committee did not afford him a fair opportunity to respond before the finding was made.
But the ANC argued that this position was contradictory.
"Ironically, the very Conduct Committee whose integrity the premier now questions is dominated by members of his own party in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, the Democratic Alliance," said ANC Western Cape caucus leader Khalid Sayed.
Sayed said the premier’s conduct during the Friday morning meeting demonstrated what the party described as "double standards and delinquency".
"The premier’s behaviour once again demonstrates his lack of respect for the institutions of our democracy and that he is reluctantly subjecting himself to the scrutiny and oversight of the provincial legislature and its committees," Sayed said.
"The premier is unfit to hold office."
Sayed added that the ANC caucus was reiterating its call for Winde to step down.
"The ANC Caucus reaffirms its call that the premier must do the honourable thing and resign with immediate effect."
lilita.gcwabe@inl.co.za