The political warfare that haunted the DA has ended through a deal between mayor Patricia De Lille and the party.
To the shock of many, they smoked a peace pipe, with the mayor succumbing and announcing her resignation from October 31.
The agreement raises more questions than answers - most glaringly it exposes the DA’s hypocrisy.
The alleged maladministration was deliberately left untested to avoid reputational damage with the 2019 elections approaching, contradicting the DA’s clean governance elections propaganda.
The party clearly couldn’t risk campaigning with the cloud of the clumsily-handled De Lille matter hanging over its head.
Sitting on the untested Bowman Gilfillan report, the DA may have struck a deal with De Lille but it has now been exposed as a party that compromises governance and one which hid away corruption (perceived or real) for political expediency.
The agreement doesn’t indicate an end to DA’s mudslinging as witnessed recently. The struggle between factions in the party - with the power still firmly in the grip of pseudo-liberals - will continue widening existing cracks in the DA caucus. The pseudo-liberals haven’t forgotten those who transgressed the DA’s policy by protecting the mayor from motions of no confidence.
Equally this grouping is prepared to fight back.
This will play itself out further leaving governance decay unattended to.
The city is yet to recover from the governance chaos caused by the DA’s palace politics and the citizens are still going to suffer.
* Zuko Mndayi, SACP spokesperson writing in his personal capacity.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.