'Zille challenged the DA and they blinked'

BACK TO WALL: Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has been accused of tarnishing the DA’s image.Picture: COURTNEY AFRICA

BACK TO WALL: Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has been accused of tarnishing the DA’s image.Picture: COURTNEY AFRICA

Published Jun 18, 2017

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The compromise that the DA and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille have reached has been described as a victory for her and a humiliation for party leader Mmusi Maimane.

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi said the compromise has achieved “absolutely nothing” as it did not address the key challenges facing the DA.

Rather than exploiting the confusion within the ANC, the fallout from Zille’s colonialism tweets has threatened to divide the DA and preoccupy its time with damage control, Matshiqi added.

“The compromise has instead reinforced the perception that DA leader Mmusi Maimane is not the one who is in power. Zille challenged the party and they blinked,” he said.

Matshiqi said the DA could “fracture or split” as a result of Zille's tweets. Not all black members of the party felt the same as Western Cape acting leader Bongani Madikizela, a Zille supporter, Matshiqi added.

“He (Madikizela) can afford to be sanguine. But if the DA is to take its cue about its performance nationally it has to take it from the Western Cape, where the current leader would have to fight hard to retain the position,” he said.

It would be difficult for the party not to address the race issue, Matshiqi added. “What unites the DA in the Western Cape is what divides it nationally,” he said.

A political insider, who did not wish to be named, said the Zille issue was not the only situation the DA faced.

The insider said further political manoeuvring in the Western Cape was expected before the election of the party's provincial leader in August.

“It’s my understanding that the acting leader will not last after the August election,” the insider said.

Opposition parties doubt Madikizela would be elected as full-time leader because the DA had to respect the demographics in the province.

Weekend Argus Sunday

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