Cape Town -
Experience versus charisma; that’s how the DA leadership battle is shaping up after party heavyweight Wilmot James put speculation to rest on Friday and declared his intention to run against Mmusi Maimane.
Their age difference - James is 61 compared to Maimane’s 34 - is not the only thing separating them.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said it was hard to distinguish between them ideologically, except that James was more steeped in the liberal tradition, and had the academic background to go with it.
But he said this might count for little in the DA of today, which was rapidly changing its outlook and reaching to a new constituency of black voters.
“The youthfulness and charisma, the eloquence and the ability to rouse the crowds would go to Maimane, but the intellectual sophistication, as well as a longer understanding of the liberal philosophy and tradition, would go to Wilmot James,” Fikeni said.
If the DA’s focus had still been to consolidate its Western Cape stronghold, and especially the coloured vote in the province, James would have had the edge.
“But if the plan is to penetrate black townships further north, to Gauteng and the metros, which the DA is hoping will be its next step, then surely Maimane, with his versatility in African languages and understanding of the township cultures, may get the nod.”
Maimane also had the advantage of outgoing leader Helen Zille’s support and, given that voter registration figures showed the youth were an increasingly significant untapped constituency, his age and fluency in modern methods of communication might count in his favour.
Also, he had declared his candidacy early, winning the support of important backers who would find it hard to “retrieve their commitment”, Fikeni said.
James announced his intention to run yesterday morning, having delayed the move after his mother’s death last week.
He said she would be proud of his decision, having been “a fighter who stood for what she believed in”.
He had spent the two weeks since Zille’s announcement that she would not seek re-election speaking to colleagues and friends, and had found “quite a reservoir of support”.
The party was “adrift” and not “focused strategically on the issues that matter to voters, and it’s not consistent in its messaging and its conversation with voters on some of the key issues”, James said.
“I thought, I’m able to give it direction. It’s vacillating, and I have the ability and the support in the DA to do that.”
James is a Capetonian, having matriculated from Athlone High School and studied at the University of the Western Cape, before going on to a distinguished academic career in the US, starting with a Fullbright scholarship and receiving a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served on the boards of the Ford Foundation, Sanlam and Media24, among others.
Maimane, who hails from Krugersdorp in Gauteng, holds masters degrees in public administration and theology, and is an ordained pastor.
While James has been the DA’s policy guru since his election as federal chairman in 2010, playing a key role in revising its economic policy in particular, which served as the basis for its election manifesto, Maimane has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks, serving as its national spokesman and Joburg mayoral candidate, among others, before being elected parliamentary leader last year.
Saturday Argus