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Two suspended DA councillors in the Free State have expressed disappointment in party leader Mmusi Maimane, accusing him of “failing to end the pervasive racial tendencies and marginalisation of blacks” in the organisation.
Ernest Tobie and Mpuse Mokone, councillors at Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in Bloemfontein, were suspended in September for allegedly organising a social gathering “along racial lines” that never took place.
The two councillors still don’t know their fate.
Tobie said: “We felt inspired when Maimane was elected as our leader, but now we are totally disappointed that, even under his leadership, the status quo has remained where blacks are still expected to be followers of whites and rubber-stamp all decisions they make on their own somewhere outside the caucus.
“Maimane is aware of our challenges, but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything, while racial tendencies continue to devour the party.
“We are here, being suspended from the party, because we did not seek permission from the white man in our plan to have a social gathering of black councillors. The gathering never happened, yet we get accused of organising along racial lines,” he said.
Tobie said he initiated a gathering of black councillors late last year, where “we could meet to share ideas, assist other councillors in areas where they lack in council-business matters, and generally empower and build one another”.
The DA’s caucus leader in Mangaung, Hardie Viviers, said the party’s federal legal commission had been investigating the matter in a bid to establish if there was “any evidence to substantiate allegations that the two councillors were organising along racial lines”.
This prolonged process has been described by the suspended councillors as a witch-hunt aimed at finding a way to kick them out.
Viviers said the investigation had taken some time because of the amount of work that needed to be done, including interviews with potential witnesses. He emphasised repeatedly that the DA was “not a racial organisation at all, and to organise along racial lines goes against the party’s founding policy”.
But Tobie insisted that “we’re being sidelined only because we have challenged decisions that were taken out of caucus and [they] expect us to rubber-stamp them without question”.
“Black leaders who stay with the DA are expected to be passive followers, and they always find a way to remove those who appear to be defiant and talk too much,” said Tobie.
Viviers said there was nothing wrong with people gathering for a meeting, but the problem with Tobie and Mokone was the allegation that they were “running an internal campaign among black members only, and that’s why this had to be investigated”.
He further denied that the two were being targeted and that decisions were made outside the caucus by a white leader.
“We don’t always agree on issues, but when this happens, we engage further and subsequently vote on it,” added Viviers.
Maimane referred City Press to the DA branch in the Free State for comment.
