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As the DA wrestles to find consensus on key issues, KwaZulu-Natal provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango believes the questions and concerns about the direction of the party come from within its ranks and are not shared by most South Africans.
“I don’t believe South Africans have an issue with where Mmusi [Maimane] is taking the party, they are buying into his vision, the problem is just with some individuals in the party,” Mncwango said last week.
Weighing in on national issues which have dogged the party in recent weeks, the provincial leader said South Africans were still coming out in their numbers to hear what the party had to offer and to ask difficult questions.
“There are the national issues which are about individuals in the party but they are side shows to the real issues. People went from giving the DA 1.7% to 20%-plus at the polls so that tells you that South Africans want the DA to prosper.”
Last month City Press reported on plans by some in the DA to form a breakaway party made up of “true liberals”.
Read: DA split looms amid serious tensions over race, transformation and policy
Mncwango said he remained unapologetic on the call for urgent redress in the country, saying the liberalism debate within the DA needed to find expression in the local context.
“We need to redress the imbalances of the past and we are unapologetic about that. While liberalism is about liberty and equality you cannot look at it through a Eurocentric lens.
“Liberalism must be understood and practised within the African context and specifically the South African context. In this country you can’t speak of equal rights and opportunity when the playing field is not even,” Mncwango said, echoing sentiments that have landed party leader Maimane in trouble with a section of the DA leadership.
“Privilege also does not mean that you didn’t work hard for what you have. It means that, in addition to your capabilities and what you put in, the system favoured you.”
Mncwango said the party would have to hit the ground running in a race to make up for the trust deficit with voters ahead of next year’s general elections.
“At this point the crucial task of the DA is to form an emotional connection with voters. People already know the DA has a track record of clean governance.
“They know the DA can fight corruption but, until you can get around the issue of the emotional connection, you will have this serious trust deficit that we have with voters.
“This means that the DA leadership should start attending funerals and weddings of the people who they serve. We need to confront this perception that the DA is just people who sit in air-conditioned offices and go to the beach while black people protest in the street,” Mncwango said.
The outspoken provincial leader – who was also the only member of the DA’s federal executive to vote against the expulsion of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille – said that in KwaZulu-Natal the DA was gearing up for a coalition government led by his party.
“South Africans are forging coalition governments across the country. In KwaZulu-Natal our vision was to bring the ANC below 50% but we’ve always understood that it would be as a coalition led by the DA.
“The recent by-elections are a clear indication that KwaZulu-Natal residents are choosing the DA and IFP. Former president Jacob Zuma has shown great hostility towards Cyril Ramaphosa and, working with shady characters, he is trying to make KwaZulu-Natal a country outside South Africa where he is the parallel president.”
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