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DA ramps up black numbers

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Mmusi Maimane. Picture: Deaan Vivier
Mmusi Maimane. Picture: Deaan Vivier

While the party’s parliamentary list improves in terms of racial representation, the gender imbalance remains problematic

DA leader Mmusi Maimane has emerged victorious from his bid to place more black people on the party’s parliamentary benches.

The DA’s parliamentary caucus will look significantly different from what it has looked for the fifth parliament.

Currently, the caucus is made up of 32% of what the party calls “constitutional blacks” – black, Indian and coloured members – and is 63% white.

Across the provincial lists, constitutional blacks make up about 58% of the total figure.

The list handed over by the DA to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) this week comprises 50.5% constitutional blacks, and 49.5% white people.

Maimane, who will lead the party to a general election as leader for the first time after succeeding Helen Zille in 2015, has been vocal about his plans to bring about much-needed transformation on the party benches, which have not been reflective of South Africa’s demographics.

He has faced an uphill battle convincing some in the party that the changes were necessary.

UPBEAT DA leader Mmusi Maimane greets supporters during the launch of his party’s manifesto, which took place at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg on February 23. Picture: Deaan Vivier

While Maimane will be pleased with the racial improvement, it is the gender balance that will be a letdown for the party.

According to the DA, the current composition of its parliamentary officials is 68% male and only 32% female.

This week’s list shows little improvement, with men still being overly represented at 64% and women making up only 36%.

When asked about the dismal gender representation on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday, federal executive chairperson James Selfe told City Press that the party did not believe in “quotas but in merit”.

The top 20 names on the national list include current chief whip John Steenhuisen, Natasha Mazzone, Geordin Hill-Lewis, Michael Waters and Phumzile van Damme.

New faces will include the party’s executive director of communications, Siviwe Gwarube – at number 32 on the list – and DA youth leader Luyolo Mphithi at number 15.

Those excluded from the list include Hlomela Bucwa, who entered Parliament at the age of 24, making her the youngest MP.

Another exclusion is that of Siphesihle Dube. He lodged an urgent application at the Western Cape High Court this week, which was heard on Wednesday, over his removal from the list.

According to Dube’s court papers, he was removed from the list after he posted a picture of himself and former DA member and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille on the social media platform, Instagram.

The picture was taken at a shisa nyama in Khayelitsha.

Dube claims he ran into De Lille, who was celebrating her birthday at the venue, and took a picture with her, captioning it “Happy birthday, Patricia.”

Selfe confirmed yesterday that Dube was removed over the post.

“I can confirm that the individual who was removed from the list was Siphesihle Dube. He was removed for jeopardising the party’s campaign through various social media posts,” said Selfe.

“Since he did not cite the IEC as one of the respondents, it will therefore depend on what the court rules. Should he win, he will still have to make another application to compel the IEC to put his name on the list. The judge reserved judgment.

“We are going to have to see what the judge says and, on that basis, determine what we have to do. We respect the rulings of courts, and should the courts say he needs to be back, then he needs to be back.”

Dube declined to comment, saying that the matter was before court and he was awaiting the outcome.

Having garnered 22% of the vote during the 2014 general elections, the party earned itself 89 seats in Parliament and will look to improve on that number. The DA’s internal polls currently have it performing at 24%.

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