DA brass not keen on ‘ANC-style’ deputy post
● Top DA leaders have rejected a proposal for the party’s constitution to be changed to create the position of a deputy to Mmusi Maimane because they don’t want “ANC problems”.
The proposed amendment to the DA’s constitution was shot down this week by the party’s constitutional review committee ahead of its federal congress. At the congress in Pretoria next month, the party will adopt new rules and elect new leaders.
The proposed amendment was filed by DA representatives in the Gauteng legislature Makashule Gana and Khume Ramulifho. The constitutional review committee will not recommend it to the congress because it presented “a real danger of creating two centres of power”.
Gana has vowed to take the fight to the congress himself.
James Selfe, the chairman of the DA federal executive, said they did not want Maimane to be deputised because this would create difficulties in terms of succession management.
“Our historical experience of these matters has been that we’ve had a situation where there were effectively two centres of power, where there were expectations that the deputy leader would become the leader,” said Selfe.
“We don’t really want that expectation to exist. Whoever we elect as a leader should be able to contest as leader without there being an expectation that the deputy leader will become the leader . . . I think it’s informed by our experience of what happens in the ANC and we wouldn’t like that to happen to us.”
But Gana said he did “not buy the two centres of power argument” and would motivate for the adoption of his amendment at next month’s congress.
“Congress will go chapter by chapter and if a proposal that one made was not considered or the committee didn’t like it, I have an opportunity with Khume to motivate on why congress must accept that proposal,” said Gana.
“What two centres of power? How can you have two centres of power when you have a chairperson and a deputy chairperson and it has not created two centres of power?
“I believe there’s a need, as a growing party, to look at strengthening the party politically . . . to respond to the changing political environment in the country.”
The DA said it was making changes to its constitution “to capacitate and guide the party as it grows, transforms and governs more jurisdictions across the country”.
The DA constitutional review committee has accepted a proposal that the party’s federal council be given powers to hire and fire its public representatives, such as premiers and mayors, charged with breaching its policies or defying its orders.
The proposal has been made by the DA’s Western Cape metro region. The DA is embroiled in a stand-off with Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille after she refused to step down in January when called to do so by the federal council. This was after an investigation into allegations of nepotism and maladministration against her.
While he did not cite the De Lille matter, Selfe indicated this had a bearing on the proposed constitutional change.
“We’re currently dealing with several high-profile politicians in senior positions who are acting or who are making statements that profoundly damage the brand of the party. And currently our constitution is silent on how we deal with these matters,” said Selfe.
“So the proposal that is being advanced is to say to somebody, if you do the following things . . . we may allow you to come and talk to the federal council and thereafter require you to resign [political office].
“But if you refuse to do that, you will lose your membership of the party. The best example of all was probably Peter Marais, who we thought we could fire but we didn’t have that provision in the constitution and it was found by court we had been unprocedural,” said Selfe.
Marais was Cape Town mayor in 2001 when the DA was known as the Democratic Party.
The committee has also approved a proposal that the DA elective congress be held every five years as opposed to the current practice of every three years.
Selfe said the idea was to get internal party elections out of the way to allow enough time to focus on national elections.
It has also adopted a proposal that the DA should hold national policy conferences between its federal congresses.