Avril Harding | |
---|---|
Member of the National Assembly | |
In office 23 April 2004 –22 August 2007 | |
Constituency | Western Cape |
Secretary-General of the Independent Democrats | |
In office June 2003 –July 2007 | |
President | Patricia de Lille |
Preceded by | Party established |
Succeeded by | Haniff Hoosen |
Personal details | |
Born | 11 September 1960 |
Citizenship | South Africa |
Political party | Congress of the People |
Other political affiliations | Independent Democrats (2004–2007) Pan Africanist Congress |
Avril Harding (born 11 September 1960) is a South African politician who was founding secretary-general of the Independent Democrats (ID) from the party's launch in June 2003 until July 2007. He also represented the party in the National Assembly from April 2004 to August 2007,serving the Western Cape constituency.
In August 2007,he was expelled from the Independent Democrats,and therefore from Parliament,on suspicion of planning to cross the floor. He subsequently joined the Congress of the People.
Harding was formerly the elections manager of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC),including during the party's 1999 general election campaign. In that capacity,he worked closely with PAC politician Patricia de Lille. [1] [2] During the 2003 floor-crossing window,de Lille defected from the PAC to establish a new party,the Independent Democrats (ID),and Harding joined her as a co-founder of the party. [3] He was appointed as the party's inaugural secretary-general,with Monique Enser as his deputy. [4]
In the 2004 general election,Harding was elected to a seat in the National Assembly. He was one of seven ID representatives in the National Assembly and,with Cecil Burgess,one of two serving in the Western Cape constituency. [5] [6] Retaining his post as ID secretary-general,he was also appointed as the party's chief whip in Parliament. [7]
In early 2005,Lennit Max,an ID leader in the Western Cape,was subject to an internal ID disciplinary hearing in connection with allegations that Harding and de Lille had accepted a donation from alleged drug kingpin Quintin Marinus. De Lille had been informed that they were under investigation by the National Prosecuting Authority in this connection,and she suspected Max of having circulated the allegation,using his contacts in the police. [8] [9] Max maintained that it was true that Harding and de Lille had accepted the donation,though the ID strongly denied it. [10]
In early July 2007,at an ID elective conference in Cape Town,Harding lost his bid for a second term as ID secretary-general;he was replaced by Haniff Hoosen. [11]
Within days of the 2007 elective conference,Harding was summoned for a disciplinary hearing at the ID's offices,where he was charged with sexual harassment. The complaint had been filed a month earlier by Agnes Tsamai,who over the weekend had been elected as ID deputy president. She alleged that Harding had made sexual advances during a party event in Klerksdorp on 2 June;she said that he had phoned her to ask her to have sex with him in his hotel room. [12] The disciplinary case against Harding was postponed. [11]
While the disciplinary hearing was pending,in August 2007,the ID terminated Harding's party membership,saying that Harding had been planning to defect from the party during the upcoming floor-crossing period;he was apparently slated to join a new party known as the Social Democrats. [3] He vacated his seat in the National Assembly on 22 August 2007 as he had lost his party membership,being replaced as secretary-general by Haniff Hoosen. [13] A legal challenge by Harding was dismissed in the Cape High Court, [14] and the internal sexual harassment proceedings became moot. [15] Hoosen later accused "certain individuals in the ID" of having pursued "a bid to ruin me for the rest of my life". [16]
Harding joined the Congress of the People (COPE) after it was founded in 2008 and ran for election under its banner in the 2009 general election. [17] Although he was ranked too low on the party list to win a seat,COPE announced in the aftermath of the election that Harding would be employed full-time at the party's headquarters as its head of administration in Parliament. [18]
The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party,formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption,with a mixture of liberal principles and strategies for improving equity. The party's strongholds were the Northern and Western Cape.
Patricia de Lille is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and leader of the political party Good. She served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023.
Mcebisi Skwatsha is a politician from the Western Cape. He is currently serving as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture,Land Reform and Rural Development since May 2019. Before that portfolio was established,he was Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform from 2014 to 2019.
Good is a South African political party that was formed in December 2018. It is led by its founder Patricia de Lille,current Minister of Tourism and former mayor of Cape Town. The party's policies are predominantly left-wing and its platform is premised on social democracy,environmentalism,anti-racism and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. The party's stronghold is the Western Cape and mainly draws support from the Coloured community.
Lennit Hendry Max is a South African politician,advocate and police officer who served as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament,as Shadow Deputy Minister of Correctional Services (2010–2014),as Member of the National Assembly (2010–2014) and as Western Cape Provincial Minister of Community Safety (2009–2010).
Mohammed Haniff Hoosen is a South African politician who served as a Member for the National Assembly for the Independent Democrats (ID) (2007–2014) and for the Democratic Alliance (DA) (2014–2024). Within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet,he was the Shadow Minister of Home Affairs from 2014 to 2019,the Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs from 2019 to 2020 and the DA's spokesperson on the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General from 2020 until his resignation in 2024.
Shaun Nigel August is a South African politician and former prison warden. He was a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2019 until February 2022 and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from February 2022 until his expulsion from Good in May 2023. He began his political career as a member of the Independent Democrats (ID). August was appointed as the party's deputy national organiser in 2006. August joined the Democratic Alliance (DA) when the ID merged with the party and served as the DA's chief whip in the City of Cape Town council from 2014 to 2018.
Brett Norton Herron is a South African politician and attorney who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since February 2022. He was a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from May 2019 until February 2022. Herron is the secretary-general of the GOOD party. He was the party's candidate for Mayor of Cape Town in the 2021 municipal elections.
Mofihli Thomas Likotsi is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2009. A former secretary-general of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC),he represented the PAC in Parliament until September 2007,when he,with Themba Godi,crossed the floor to the African People's Convention (APC). Likotsi subsequently rejoined the PAC,but in 2019 he joined the African Transformation Movement (ATM).
Cecil Valentine Burgess is a South African politician and lawyer who served in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2014. He represented the Independent Democrats (ID) until September 2005,when he crossed the floor to the African National Congress (ANC).
Mahomed Farouk Cassim is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly and in the apartheid-era House of Delegates. After leaving the National Assembly in 2003,he joined the Congress of the People (COPE) and represented COPE as a local councillor in the City of Cape Town.
Basil Mark Douglas was a South African politician and community activist in the coloured suburbs of Johannesburg. He served in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2004,representing the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) until April 2003,when he crossed the floor to the New National Party (NNP).
Vincent Charles Gore is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2009. He represented the Democratic Party (DP) and Democratic Alliance (DA) during his first term,but was elected to his second term under the banner of the Independent Democrats (ID). In September 2007,he crossed the floor from the ID to the African National Congress (ANC).
Lance William Greyling is a South African politician and civil servant who served in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2015. He was the chief whip of the Independent Democrats (ID) until 2014,when the party merged with the Democratic Alliance (DA). He also served as Shadow Minister of Energy under Opposition Leader Lindiwe Mazibuko from 2012 to 2014. Though Greyling was re-elected to his seat under the DA banner in 2014,he resigned in 2015 to work in the office of the Mayor of Cape Town.
Izak Jacobus "Sakkie" Pretorius is a retired South African politician from the Western Cape. He served in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2004,representing the Western Cape constituency. He was later elected as a local councillor in the City of Cape Town.
Ngila Michael Muendane is a South African politician,businessman,and former anti-apartheid activist. He is the former secretary-general and former deputy president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
Christopher Mark Lowe is a South African politician. He represented the Democratic Party (DP) and Democratic Alliance (DA) in the National Assembly from 2001 to 2009,serving the KwaZulu-Natal constituency. Before that,he represented the DP in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1999 to 2001 and was a long-serving local councillor in Durban.
Florence Batyi is a South African politician who represented the Independent Democrats (ID) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2007. She was expelled from the party in August 2007 on suspicion of planning to cross the floor to another party.
Mzikayise Vincent Ngema is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2009. He was elected as a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) but crossed the floor to the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) in September 2005. He was elected as secretary-general of Nadeco in April 2007.
Sarah Unes Paulse is a South African politician who served in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from 2004 until 2010 and in the National Assembly of South Africa from 2010 until 2014 as a member of the Independent Democrats. She is a sister of Patricia de Lille,the current leader of Good and the former leader of the Independent Democrats.