Pressure mounts on Maimane as DA CEO resigns
Departure comes on eve of federal council meeting
Pressure is growing on DA leader Mmusi Maimane to step down after the party’s CEO, Paul Boughey, resigned on Thursday. Boughey’s resignation comes on the eve of a crucial meeting of the party’s federal council.
Pressure is growing on DA leader Mmusi Maimane to step down after the party’s CEO, Paul Boughey, resigned on Thursday.
James Selfe, the party’s federal executive chair, resigned after the DA’s poor election performance. He will now be heading the DA’s governance unit.
The CEO in the DA is the accounting officer who leads the party’s administration and gives effect to the vision of the party’s leadership. The three positions are responsible for the direction of the party, with Maimane now the only one left standing.
A report by a review panel, which was presented to the federal executive last weekend, included the recommendation that Maimane and Boughey both resign and that the party go to an early congress.
Boughey’s resignation comes on the eve of a crucial meeting of the party’s federal council, its highest decision-making body between national congresses and at which a replacement for Selfe will be elected.
The federal council will deal with the report of the organisational review panel and the election of the new federal council chair. The party said on Thursday it had accepted Boughey’s resignation, after almost five years in the position.
Former party leader Helen Zille, as well as Athol Trollip, Thomas Walters and Mike Waters have all put themselves forward to take up the position of federal council chair, which is arguably the most powerful in the party. It is, however, expected to be a two-horse race between Zille and Trollip.
Tipping things towards Zille in the race is growing momentum in the party for a change of leadership as the DA’s electoral performance continues to deteriorate. Zille would be viewed as a leader who would set the DA back on the track it was on before Maimane became the leader, while Trollip is viewed as a supporter of Maimane.
The momentum for change at the federal council is expected to come from public representatives, who are in a majority in the forum, and who fear losing their jobs. If trends seen in by-elections since the May election continue, the DA faces losing 386 councillors in the 2021 election, according to its own calculations.
The lead-up to the meeting of the federal council has been fraught with internal factional battles.
In a memorandum to party structures on Thursday, Boughey said it was the right time for him to hand over the baton and to allow the leadership and new federal council chair the space to chart their own course.
“The DA is currently going through an important phase of self-reflection. This is a necessary process in order to strengthen itself,” he said.
“I have no doubt, that the leadership and broader membership of the DA will rise to this moment, that it will recalibrate and come back even stronger to face the challenges of election 2021 and beyond.”
The review was commissioned by the party in the wake of the 2019 general elections in which the DA lost support nationally, most notably in its stronghold the Western Cape, the only province it governs, and in Gauteng.
The final report will be presented to this weekend’s federal council meeting, where a chair will be elected to replace Selfe.