DA strife over BEE splits senior leadership
● DA bigwigs are expected to lock horns over the party’s broad-based BEE policy when its federal executive meets this week.
Senior leaders told the Sunday Times that several provincial leaders were planning to challenge the national leadership at the meeting on Friday and Saturday over the party’s stance on empowerment, an issue that could cost it votes in the election next year.
It is understood the provincial leaders believe party chief Mmusi Maimane failed to provide leadership on the controversy plaguing the party.
Prominent DA members, including influential MPs and provincial leaders, engaged in a public spat last weekend following an announcement by policy head Gwen Ngwenya that the federal council had decided at its meeting last month to abandon the ANCchampioned policy.
Ngwenya said broad-based BEE had failed dismally to empower the poor and tackle unemployment, serving only to enrich politically connected elites.
Ngwenya’s statement sparked a Twitter furore in which DA leaders contradicted each other on what had been agreed at the meeting last month with regard to broad-based BEE.
Sources in the DA say several provincial leaders will push for the federal executive to come out of its upcoming meeting with a clearer position on the matter.
It is unclear which provincial leaders will raise the issue, but Zwakele Mncwango of KwaZuluNatal and Nqaba Bhanga of the Eastern Cape are among those who rejected Ngwenya’s public statement. MPs such as Mike Waters and Gavin Davis supported it.
“On Monday there was that joint statement by Gwen and James Selfe that sought to clarify the issues, but that was mere damage control because there was a realisation that this was damaging the party.”
Political pundits have described the saga as yet another own goal by the DA, saying it was likely to cost the party votes from black communities in the election next year. “The provincial leaders feel that the leader [Maimane] never backed them on the selection panel and succumbed to the pressure of that group [Waters and Davis],” another DA source said.
“So the provincial leaders are asking: ‘What do we get for supporting you, because when push comes to shove you crumble instead of supporting us?’ “So it’s going to get hectic from the side of provincial leaders because there’s an attempt to minimise their influence,” this source said. The ANC immediately attacked the DA over the statement by Ngwenya, saying it proved the party was intent on defending white privilege.