Maimane now wants to be Zille
DA’s highest body to decide tomorrow
THE DA’s federal executive council (FedEx) will decide tomorrow who it prefers as Premier Helen Zille’s successor after it emerged that party leader Mmusi Maimane was vying for the Western Cape’s number one job.
Maimane’s decision to run for the position has met with mixed reaction, with provincial party hopeful Bonginkosi Madikizela saying he was concerned.
The party was set to announce its premier candidate yesterday.
“The matter now is before FedEx – we are awaiting the decision. FedEx is the party’s highest decision-making body between congresses. Issues of such magnitude must be discussed there before a decision is taken,” said Madikizela.
He said it did not make sense for Maimane to want to be the premier where the party was already in government, and when the organisation’s strategic goal is to win Gauteng, Northern Cape, and to get the ANC below 50%.
ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said: “Mmusi Maimane is proving our long-held view that the Desperate Alliance is bereft of leadership. They are so desperate to hold on to the Western Cape next year that Mmusi Maimane has to step down as national leader of the opposition to vie for the post of provincial premier. This move also helps us to understand why Maimane personally intervened to speak on behalf of the City of Cape Town during the height of the water crisis earlier this year, breaching the separation of powers between party and government.”
Political analyst Keith Gottschalk said the DA had clearly discovered from its pollsters that President Cyril Ramaphosa had won back ANC voters in Gauteng, who abstained during the 2016 municipal elections in protest against Jacob Zuma’s corruption.
Gottschalk said for Maimane to drop out of Parliament to become the next Western Cape premier would seriously lower his national profile.
“This is an astonishing decision for Maimane to make just months after the DA proudly announced it transferred its national HQ and staff from Cape Town to Johannesburg,” said Gottschalk.
Madikizela said he only learnt last Wednesday that Maimane was vying for the same position as him.
He met Maimane two days later where he raised his concerns, he said.
“It’s Mmusi’s right to stand on any list according to our Constitution. The question is whether that decision is in the interests of the party, in terms of our national strategic goals, and I think it is not,” said Madikizela.
Maimane was automatically at the top of the list for any position, meaning should FedEx allow him to stand, he would automatically be the premier without any contest, Madikizela said.
Maimane’s spokesperson Portia Adams said: “It is not a done deal as yet. He is engaging with various party structures. The DA’s federal executive will deliberate on this issue. The selection panel deliberated on this issue yesterday (Saturday).
“There is no premier candidate that has been finalised yet. If he decides on this course of action, yes, he can go for both candidacy of the Western Cape and presidential elections, and this is not unprecedented within the DA.”
DA provincial spokesperson Odette Cason said: “The DA has undergone a thorough selection process in order to ensure that the premier candidate of the province is the best candidate to build on the gains of the past decade in government. The key consideration has been and continues to be what is in the best interests of the people of the Western Cape and South Africa.”
Asked about what happened during Friday’s meeting where Madikizela expressed his concerns, Cason said: “Unfortunately, I can’t comment on that.”