Political leader accused of poisoning his party from within

Freedom Front Plus’ mayoral candidate in Tshwane, Willie Spies, has accused former caucus leader Grandi Theunissen of poisoning the party from within.

Spies shared this information during an interview with Izak Du Plessis on the Nuuspod podcast last week.

Grandi Theunissen was the former Freedom Front Plus Caucus Leader in the City of Tshwane and Regional Chairperson for Tshwane.

However, he resigned from the party and joined the Democratic Alliance, which DA Tshwane leader Cilliers Brink announced in August 2026.

According to Brink, the former FF+ leader is not joining the party as a disgruntled individual, but rather as a credible community leader.

“He was highly electable on the FF+ lists, and is a credible community leader, with the requisite skills and experience to add value in the municipality,” he said.

In a recent interview, Theunissen threw Spies under the bus, saying he has no real interest in serving the City of Tshwane.

“Spies told me in a personal discussion that he does not truly have an interest in being a Tshwane councillor. His ambition is to return to Parliament.”

“He told me that he will attend a council meeting once a month, spend the rest of the time on his legal firm, and then make myself available as MP in 2029.”

Spies dismissed Theunissen’s allegations, saying that he has lived in Pretoria for 50 years and was dedicated to the city.

“My commitment to Pretoria, therefore, speaks for itself. I will remain a councillor, even if we are not part of the new city government,” he said.

Spies said that Theunissen felt threatened after he was nominated as the VF Plus’s mayoral candidate.

“Grandi Theunissen was so worried about his own position when I made myself available for election that he continuously threatened to cross over to the DA,” he said.

“Therefore, in a private conversation in which I tried to reassure him, I let him know that he did not need to be worried about me threatening his position.”

“I mentioned that I would be satisfied to be an ordinary councillor or perhaps re-enter parliamentary politics in the future.”

Willie Spies accused Grandi Theunissen of poisoning the party from within

In the interview with Nuuspod, Spies said that Theunissen’s resignation from the Freedom Front Plus and joining the DA did not come as a surprise.

“Grandi Theunissen has been drifting toward joining the DA since October 2025. He is on record where he expressed this intention,” Spies said.

“He also did a very strange thing on 25 June 2026. On that day, a vote was held in council on a report that would pave the way for the development of land in Groenkloof.”

The Freedom Front Plus stated that this could under no circumstances be supported, and the Groenkloof community agreed.

Even after the party caucus decided to vote against the report, Theunissen took a different route.

“For reasons I still do not understand, Grandi Theunissen decided it was necessary for the party to vote in favour of this report alongside the ANC and the EFF,” he said.

He said that it was such a surprise that people in the caucus recorded on their mobile phones that the Freedom Front Plus voted with the ANC and EFF.

“I can tell you that Theunissen has continually had discussions with the DA while he was VF Plus causes leader over the last year,” Spies said.

“What is also striking is that he is number 12 on the DA’s councillor candidate list. He would not have been so high if he had only joined the DA recently.”

“Theunissen has, unfortunately, hurt the Freedom Front Plus from within. He damaged the party from within before he joined the DA.”

Spies said that the problem around Theunissen goes beyond a man who was unhappy that he was not selected as a Tshwane mayoral candidate.

“He has, since October 2025, actively worked with the DA and strategised how he would undermine the Freedom Front Plus before he left for the Democratic Alliance,” he said.