Maimane set to be axed as parliamentary leader after slamming the party

The DA, which is the country’s biggest opposition party, is facing its biggest crisis yet after Mmusi Maimane resigned as leader on Wednesday, declaring that the party he has led for four years “is not the vehicle best suited to take forward the vision of building one South Africa”.

Maimane’s remarks were met with widespread indignation inside the party’s parliamentary caucus, with his dismissal as parliamentary leader apparently imminent.
The party’s problems were compounded after it became known that there is legal uncertainty about who is acting leader because Athol Trollip, the federal chairperson, also resigned. The DA is now effectively without a leader. After a day of high political drama, on Thursday:

The DA’s parliamentary caucus will meet at 10:00 to deliberate about Maimane’s future. Indications are that he could lose his position as parliamentary leader before noon.
The federal executive will have an emergency meeting to consider legal advice about who will lead the party in the wake of the resignations. John Steenhuisen seems poised to take over from Maimane as parliamentary leader, with either Natasha Mazzone or Phumzile van Damme being touted as possible chief whips.

The DA, which had its worst electoral showing in a quarter-century in May and has since lost a string of by-elections, was plunged into disarray after the shock return of former leader and Maimane opponent Helen Zille to leadership structures last week. This followed the tabling of a damning internal party review and the dramatic resignation of Herman Mashaba as DA mayor in Johannesburg on Monday. DA cowards, colonialism and colour: 8 quotes from Mmusi Maimane’s resignation

 

As the battle for the soul of the DA appeared to have reached boiling point, the two senior leaders’ – Maimane and federal chair Trollip – resignation left the party deeply divided. Maimane’s future was the main topic for discussion during an emotionally charged seven-hour meeting of the party’s federal executive at its Bruma headquarters in Johannesburg. The meeting was chaired by Zille who was elected as chairperson of the federal council on Sunday.

Although his decision to step down as leader was accepted, attempts were made to convince Maimane to remain in his position until an elective congress could be held. He refused. Trollip, a former parliamentary leader and Maimane loyalist, followed suit.

According to sources, there was some empathy for Maimane when he resigned, but that it quickly evaporated after his contentious remarks during the press conference that followed the meeting. It is expected that Annelie Lotriet, the chairperson of the DA’s parliamentary caucus, will declare a vacancy in the position of parliamentary leader on Thursday morning and that Maimane will be replaced by Steenhuisen who is currently the chief whip.

There is speculation that Steenhuisen’s position could be filled by either Mazzone or Van Damme, who are both high profile and firebrand MPs currently serving as caucus whips.

In his resignation speech, Maimane blamed a smear campaign to discredit him for his downfall, making a dramatic admission that he does not believe that the party could build a non-racial South Africa. There has been, for several months, a consistent and co-ordinated attempt to undermine my leadership and ensure that either this project failed, or I failed.

“This extended to the smear campaign that was run on the front pages of an Afrikaans weekly paper in an attempt to destroy my name and my integrity,” Maimane said, referring to two recent lead stories on the front page of Rapport. Maimane, who stood next to Mashaba when he blasted the DA during his resignation speech on Monday and called him a hero, proceeded to knife the DA even further and seemed to distance himself from the party.

In other news – Mmusi Maimane resigns as DA leader

Mmusi Maimane has resigned as leader of the Democratic Alliance. Maimane made the announcement at a media briefing at the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

“I will today step down as leader of the DA. I’ll continue my role as a parliamentary leader if the party makes that decision until the end of the year. Read more

Source: News24