Senior DA MP Mike Waters has requested documentary proof that party leader Mmusi Maimane is renting his Claremont home out of his own pocket, the Sunday Times reports.
The request is said to have been made at a meeting of the party’s federal executive last week.
“He [Waters] proceeded to ask how much he [Maimane] pays for rent, whether or not that amount is market related, and went as far as demanding that he produce bank statements to prove that,” the publication reported.
This follows a City Press report two weeks ago that Maimane had declared a R4m house in the Cape Town suburb in a parliamentary register, despite the home never belonging to him.
In the report, Maimane apparently did an about-turn and said he rented the house from a friend, identified in the story as business person Wessel Jacobs.
Maimane had declared that house, as well as a house in Weltevredenpark in Roodepoort, Gauteng, but the deeds office reportedly stated that he only owned the Roodepoort property.
The City Press report led to questions about why Maimane was renting a private home and not living in the parliamentary village.
His spokesperson Solly Malatsi told News24 previously that this was due to “security risks”.
The Sunday Tribune recently reported that Jacobs had indeed confirmed that Maimane was renting the house, saying “Maimane is renting the property from the company at a market-related monthly rental. He (Maimane) pays the market-related rental as per his agreement with the company.”
On Sunday morning, Maimane took to Twitter, seemingly responding to the report in the Sunday Times, as well as an article in Rapport about his use of a rental vehicle paid for by disgraced former Steinhoff chief executive Markus Jooste.
In his message, Maimane said, “The smear campaign continues”.