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DA leader Mmusi Maimane has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding former party leader and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, saying he will deal with anyone who steers the party from its task, without fear or favour.
Speaking at the party’s provincial conference in the Eastern Cape yesterday, Maimane said that “public discussions and arguments on topics such as colonialism” were derailing the DA’s project.
Hinting at a series of tweets by Zille, a fired-up Maimane said: “The extreme views frequently expressed on Twitter are not shared by ordinary South Africans. And I certainly don’t share these views.”
Maimane was speaking from Port Elizabeth, where former Congress of the People member Nqaba Bhanga was elected provincial leader over outgoing chairperson Veliswa Mvenya.
Zille has been charged with bringing the party into disrepute when she tweeted that not all aspects of colonialism were bad. Following the tweets, she wrote an opinion piece in which she appeared to suggest that white people in the DA were under attack and that the party was no longer a political home for them.
“My job, as leader of the DA, is to defend, protect and promote our core project of building a united and prosperous South Africa under a new government. And I intend to do my job without fear or favour.
“I will not remain silent if anyone within our party steers us away from our task. The choice is simple: we can either pretend we’re under attack from one another and defend our races, or we can focus on saving our country from the ANC. Only one of these choices will lead us forward,” Maimane charged.
Many in the party believe that the once close ally of Maimane is intentionally frustrating him to test whether or not he will have the courage to stand up to her.
“This is really about Mmusi being on trial. Helen won’t win or lose anything here. She has challenged him and he must not back down, her career is over either way,” said one provincial leader.
“Mmusi has the chance to earn his ‘struggle credentials’ in the party, as it were, if he can take on her challenge and win. A whole new support base will be offered to him ahead of next year’s federal congress. People who traditionally have not supported him will be willing to give him a shot once he has proved that he is his own person.
Speaking to City Press on the sidelines of the Eastern Cape congress, Maimane said that it was not true that he had been afraid to take Zille on in the past.
“I have always led out of principle. Zille will tell you herself that when I needed to take her on, I have done so. You can ask her on the matter of Mamphela Ramphele – she was in the room when we voted and I voted against her. Now, with this thing of hers recently, I took the lead and laid charges against her.”
On why Zille’s hearing kept getting delayed, Maimane said that the former leader had “lawyered up”, but said that he would like to have the matter put to bed as soon as possible.
In the run-up to the 2019 elections, the final sanction on Zille will have some bearing, not only on internal contestations in the DA, but also on voters. The DA has reached a ceiling with its traditional voter base and now needs to win the hearts and minds of rural and township areas, which often are an ANC stronghold. Dealing decisively with the Zille matter could sway some undecided voters.
Meanwhile, newly elected provincial leader Bhanga was left red-faced with embarrassment when he turned up an hour late for the official announcement of his appointment.
In what was a hotly contested event, an all-male top six were elected as the new leaders of the party in the Eastern Cape where the DA governs the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.
Bhanga – who joined the party in 2014 – takes over the reins from Athol Trollip, who now serves as the party’s federal chairperson.
“Whatever the reason for him not being here, it was poor form. I don’t know what the reasons were; I haven’t heard from him what they are,” Trollip told journalists.
“It’s really a pity considering our national leader was here and gave the most visionary speech.”
Addressing allegations that Trollip would continue to govern the province through him, Bhanga said that he was not concerned with accusations that he was a “white man’s lackey”.
He said that he celebrated Trollip’s success in the party and that Trollip had become both a friend and mentor to him.
