‘Keep nose out of DA business’

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen yesterday slammed the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) for meddling in the party’s politics.

The IRR recently welcomed former DA leader Helen Zille as a “senior fellow”. However, it was an opinion piece by analyst Hermann Pretorius that raised eyebrows after he called on DA leader Mmusi Maimane to resign following the party’s “worst political performance” in the 2019 elections.

Pretorius also slammed Maimane for having used a vehicle sponsored by Steinhoff, despite acknowledging the circumstances around it were still unclear. “What is clear is that Maimane’s position is weakening perceptibly almost by the day.”

He then lobbied strongly for current Western Cape premier Alan Winde to take over the party, saying Winde had an excellent political record.

“I want the DA to be honest with the people and to declare: we think this pale male, with his record in government, is the best person for the job of leading our country out of the doldrums, and if you care about his skin colour, you are the racist, not us.” The IRR endorsed the piece in a tweet. Steenhuisen, however, rejected it as “naked opportunism displayed by the IRR, in which it apparently seeks to raise funds in support of a presumed leadership contest within the DA”.

He encouraged the IRR to become members and “exercise their membership rights to participate in the DA’s next congress, at which the leadership will be elected, instead of sniping from the sidelines and shamelessly piggy-backing their fundraising appeals on to it”.