DA falling apart, says gleeful opposition

Three main parties warn of an impending implosion in W Cape

THE CONSTERNATION in the DA has opposition parties watching with glee as the governing party in the province “falls apart piece by piece”. All three main opposition parties have warned of an implosion in the DA Western Cape that could lead to service delivery problems in communities.

Bernard Josephs, provincial EFF leader, said the fallout between JP Smith and mayor Patricia de Lille and the drama at the weekend’s heated elective congress will not sit well with voters.

“We saw what happened at the weekend with the leadership race between Bonginkosi Madikizela and Lennit Max. There are threats of court action and corruption with the votes. It is really imploding in the DA. We can all see that, and voters are not stupid. They know it too. We are silently sitting and watching the DA fall apart piece by piece,” he said.

ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said the DA was split after the weekend’s neck-and-neck congress.

“The DA is not going to heal any time soon and the implosion of the DA house of cards continues with the various factional lines deepening divisions,” Jacobs said.

Madikizela, the MEC for Human Settlements, beat Max in a nail-biting race to become the DA’s leader in the Western Cape.

Said Jacobs: “The vote rigging to keep Madikizela and Premier Helen Zille in their positions rocked the DA this weekend and the dispute against the fishy figures declared by MPL Lennit Max, who lost by 16 votes out of 1 000 cast, shows that a mere nine delegates could have swung it in his favour,” Jacobs said.

He also referred to the parliamentary investigation into Madikizela, which was halted after the resignations of those leading the investigating.

“If Max had won, both the One&Only cake man and party animal Madikizela and his boss Zille would have had to find a new job. Zille is still haunted by her refugee and other utterances.

“Madikizela fought to shield Zille when she praised certain aspects of colonialism and, in return, Zille protected him from facing the consequences of his big birthday bash in a posh Cape hotel he failed to declare, as is required by law,” he said.

ACDP provincial leader Ferlon Christians said the DA should deal with its internal issues.

“There is a great deal of division in the DA. Looking at the results of the weekend’s elective congress, it is really not going good in the DA. It is clear that there are two opposing camps – one for Helen Zille and one for Patricia de Lille,” he said.

Meanwhile, Max said he had not heard from the DA leaders, but they had until today to respond to his complaint.