DA needs to get its act together

Former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon still has an astute eye for the game. Earlier this week, when asked about the current state of the DA, Leon repeated the old saying that “a week is a long time in politics”. His point was that despite the apparent mess the DA is in at the moment, the party should not by any means be written off when it comes to the election next year.

Leon said he believes that once the current issues have been resolved and the media hype dies down, then voters will hear the DA’s messages coming through loud and clear.

The party leadership is surely hoping he is correct that the dogs may be barking at the moment, but that the whole caravan will move on.

Over the past few months, it has seemed, even to supporters of the party, that the DA has some sort of a death wish.

First there was the unseemly – and still not resolved – spat with Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille. Then party leader Mmusi Maimane irritated many of its conservative white supporters by agreeing with the notion of “white privilege”.

In times where party members are becoming increasingly outspoken and not toeing the party line, it is imperative that a strong disciplinary structure exists to bring people back into line.

The DA’s particular structure, the Federal Legal Commission, has now been put under the spotlight, following the court decision this week (during the De Lille case) that the commission itself was not properly constituted according to the DA’s own constitution.

There is the possibility that a number of disciplinary decisions by the commission may be challenged.

We have said this before, and we will say it again: The DA needs to get its act together.

We need a strong and principled opposition.