An appeals committee has been established to review the guilty verdicts against Premier Alan Winde and two other legislators for breaching the provincial parliament’s code of conduct.
Winde was found guilty by the Conduct Committee of failing to disclose the sponsorship of an economy-class return flight to New York to attend Climate Week NYC in September 2024.
The ticket, costing R51,000, had been paid for by the Under2Coalition.
GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron and ANC MPL Rachel Windvogel were all found to have broken the rules governing members’ conduct for separate cases.
Western Cape ANC leader Khalid Sayed, who lodged the complaint against Winde, has, however, flagged the committee’s constitution, which will include the speaker of the legislature, Daylin Mitchell.
He said the code of conduct, which outlines who must form part of the appeals committee, was flawed.
“We note that the appeals committee is in line with the current code of conduct with the Western Cape legislature, but are of the view that the code of conduct itself, especially when it comes to composition of the committee, is flawed and not in line with the constitution of the Western Cape and country.
“It actually compromises the office of the speaker by having him chair the committee. It is not in line with procedural fairness because the speaker, who has to preside over the sitting of the house that receives the report, is chairing the same committee.
“It also gets the speaker involved in the business of a committee and takes sides on a matter. It compromises the impartiality of the office even if we know the speaker is a party delegate, but as far as executing its functions is supposed to be above board,” he said.
He said they will write to object to the code of conduct and explore parliamentary and extra-parliamentary means to ensure it is amended.
“In our view, it has bearing on the matters put before the committee,” he added.
Mitchell said the ANC can lodge a request to change the rules because they were also part of the conduct committee.
“They are a part of it. And if they want to amend it, then they have the channel to do so,” he said.
According to the 2021 code gazette, the committee shall consist of the speaker, deputy speaker, party whips, one member of the official opposition, and another opposition party member.
Mitchell will constitute the body with Mitchell, Reagen Allen, Gillion Bosman, Zingisa Lekker and Aishah Cassiem.
Winde had always denied breaching the code, stating he attended the conference in his official capacity as Western Cape premier and as African co-chair of the Under2Coalition.
He also said the Western Cape Government had initially paid for the ticket and that the Under2Coalition only reimbursed the provincial government in April 2025.
After considering the matter, the committee found that Winde had breached rules relating to the disclosure of registrable interests and recommended that he receive a reprimand.
In a separate case, the committee found that Herron breached the code after issuing a media statement and social media posts about an August 2025 attack on members of the National Assembly.
Herron has also previously indicated that he intends to challenge the committee report.
The committee found that Windvogel breached the code after visiting several Western Cape health facilities and taking photographs and videos without permission.
Ntsikelelo Qoyo
iol.co.za