“If he wants me to be a Julius Malema, I will be!" These were the words of Councillor Devon Waldick as long-running tensions between him and Makana Independent New Deal (Mind) founder Jock McConnachie exploded this week.
“If he wants me to be a Julius Malema, I will be!" These were the words of Councillor Devon Waldick as long-running tensions between him and Makana Independent New Deal (Mind) founder Jock McConnachie exploded this week.
After moves to oust Waldick from his position as the party’s Council representative, the latest in a string of changing allegiances has seen Waldick in one week apparently acknowledge, then flatly deny a new bond with the ANC, only to declare that he would indeed join the ANC – but only at the end of his current term.
In March last year, Mind, a grouping of independent candidates, registered to contest 13 of Makana's 14 wards in Makana’s local government elections and fielded three candidates on the Proportional Representation list. Waldick was a PR candidate for Ward 6.
But barely four months later, in July, a letter to the press from McConnachie indicated Waldick had fallen out of favour. “It was agreed that the candidates would not be party to any meeting which may be called by the so-called Mind ‘new executive committee’ formed by Messrs Leon Trompetter and Devon Waldick,” McConnachie wrote in the letter to Grocott’s Mail dated 27 July 2011.
“The ‘new executive committee’ is comprised exclusively of family members of Waldick… the candidates also agreed that they do not recognise Mr Waldick as a legitimate representative of Mind.” McConnachie said he would seek a formal court application for an order declaring that Mind had collapsed.
The rift was subsequently patched – until this month when McConnachie threatened to withdraw Waldick as councillor because of alleged non-performance.
"There is a provisional decision to remove him, but he will be given an opportunity to present about his performance. We feel that as a PR councillor for Mind he is not carrying out its mandate, we have notified him of the provisional decision," McConnachie said this week.
He said Waldick had not been keeping the party up to date with activities happening in Council. "We are in the dark as to how he is spending his time, but we are willing to be persuaded otherwise," McConnachie said.
Waldick seemed to have had the last word this week, though. On Tuesday night when the ANC's centenary torch was carried into Grahamstown for the second time, Waldick, attending the welcoming address in the City Hall, was introduced by ANC Regional Secretary Scara Njadayi as a new member.
According to members of the audience, Waldick smiled and greeted everyone in apparent acknowledgement. However, in an interview with Grocott's Mail the next day, Waldick denied that he had joined the ANC. They are free to investigate and audit the ANC membership. They will not see me there. I am not a member,” Waldick insisted.
"What happened yesterday [Tuesday] is something I wanted to happen. [Joining] is a question I will still think about," Waldick said adding that he would consider joining after the three years. But for now he would stay put.
"I will not cross the floor to the ANC. I will remain a councillor for Mind for the next three-and-a-half years. We are going to national elections and Mind cannot contest national elections. I'm considering joining the ANC because they go into the national elections," Waldick said.
The 21-year-old councillor then hit back at McConnachie over his efforts to oust him as PR councillor for Mind, saying McConnachie has been trying to get rid of him since the day after the election. He claimed he had been defamed and alleged there had been attempts to extract money from him. "That is when hell started,” Waldick said.
Waldick also said McConnachie’s letters to Grocott's Mail concerning him had been defamatory. "He has been defaming. Everywhere I go, he defames me. He has been writing ugly letters about me. He has been saying I am incompetent.“No one will get rid of me there [in Council]. I am an independent councillor who is not accountable to anyone but the public. I am not reporting to him. You are going to go to council and physically take me out and I will go back… unfortunately for them I am politically equipped. I don't bother with him, he is nothing in my eyes," Waldick said.
Waldick claimed McConnachie expected him to object to every proposal made by the ANC in Council. "If the ANC comes with something that will benefit the people then I will say yes. If he wants me to be a Julius Malema, I will be," said Waldick.
McConnachie and Trompetter denied Waldick’s allegations. Responding to questions about Waldick's relationship with the ANC, the party’s Eastern Cape secretary Scara Njadayi told Grocott's Mail in a telephone interview that the party did not want to put any political pressure on Waldick to join the ANC
. He said Waldick liked the policies and practices of the ANC and had been working closely with the party recently. Asked whether Waldick had indicated any intention of joining the ANC, Njadayi said: "It's not a matter of joining the party – it is just a compliment to the ANC and [evidence of]how it interacts with people."
