Share

Helen Zille and DA veteran James Selfe at war

accreditation
AT ODDS The DA’s James Selfe and Helen Zille
AT ODDS The DA’s James Selfe and Helen Zille

Senior DA leader James Selfe has accused former party leader Helen Zille of sabotaging his plans to return as an MP.

The party’s heavyweights have faced off over the Western Cape parliamentary list process, which Zille had been chairing.

This has caused dismay among some DA members as a deal brokered by party leader Mmusi Maimane agreed that she would no longer participate in party activities.

The decision to curtail Zille’s activities within the DA was made after a drawn-out battle over a series of tweets last year in which she appeared to endorse colonialism.

Zille continues to cause headaches for DA leaders – she caused a stir on social media again last week when she threatened to lead a tax revolt.

While the party has not yet formally disciplined her, Maimane has tweeted that he does not agree with Zille on the illegal act and that it was not a party position.

The DA’s federal executive, which met in Johannesburg this past weekend, discussed the dispute on Friday evening.

National spokesperson Solly Malatsi did not go into details about the exact decision made regarding the dispute, but said that an agreement had been reached.

“There was a discussion on the matter. The party is taking the necessary steps in positive cooperation with the relevant selection panel to ensure that all the affected candidates have their rights protected and all processes prescribed by our nomination regulations are beyond reproach. All affected parties are in agreement with this approach,” Malatsi said.

It’s understood that the DA’s federal executive resolved to continue with the list process in the Western Cape, and set aside the disputes and subsequent investigations.

Should Selfe still feel hard done by once the outcome of the process is released, an official appeals process would begin.

The list process in the Western Cape, the only province the DA governs, had temporarily stalled pending the outcome of the dispute.

Insiders say that there were concerns around polling data, which shows that the DA could lose complete control of the province and be forced to lead a coalition, or it could win a significantly reduced majority from the 59% it garnered during the national elections in 2014.

City Press understands that Selfe laid a formal complaint of procedure with federal chairperson Athol Trollip following Zille’s line of questioning during his interview with the selection panel.

Insiders say that Zille had given Selfe a heads-up that she would deviate from the standard line of questioning given that he was a senior leader in the party.

However, Selfe was said to be taken aback when Zille threw questions his way pertaining to the DA’s handling of former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.

The party was involved in a series of blunders resulting in embarrassing outcomes in numerous court challenges with De Lille.

Some in the party have laid blame over the handling of the matter squarely on Selfe’s shoulders.

He led the legal charge against De Lille.

Trollip last week confirmed that he had received a procedural complaint, which he had forwarded to the DA’s federal legal commission.

“I think that, unlike any other political party in South Africa, we have selection panels. People aren’t nominated by branches – they apply and do a whole range of online tests and aptitude tests. Then they appear before an electoral college and those who make it through the electoral college appear before a selection panel. The selection panel is like a job interview and those interviews are recorded,” Trollip explained.

It was discovered, however, that recordings of interviews, including Selfe’s, were “missing” or were not recorded at all.

“In this case, there was a complaint that was sent to me and I referred it to the federal legal commission because it wasn’t an appeal per se on the outcome or the scores,” Trollip said.

“It was a complaint about process and the federal legal commission wanted to source the recording so that it could view the recordings. It discovered that nine of the about 200 Western Cape recordings were not captured because there was a malfunction of the video recorder. However, at least five of the nine were captured on a digital voice recorder because one of the staff members suspected there might be a problem with the video recorder and introduced a digital recorder.”

Selfe is alleged to have blamed Zille for the missing recording, saying that she didn’t want to be exposed for not having followed procedure.

However, Zille blames Selfe, saying that he didn’t want to be seen flailing during that interview.

Zille and Selfe declined to comment.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you believe that the various planned marches against load shedding will prompt government to bring solutions and resolve the power crisis?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes
20% - 103 votes
No
80% - 401 votes
Vote