DA dismisses report of breakaway by some leaders

THE DA has dismissed a report that some of its senior leaders are plotting to form a breakaway true liberal party as nothing more than rumours and gossip.

The City Press said yesterday that senior leaders‚ angry about the direction the party was taking under Mmusi Maimane‚ had been holding consultations and were said to be keen on getting Western Cape premier Helen Zille to lead the new party.

DA national spokeswoman Refiloe Nt’sekhe said yesterday that the party had held its biggest and most diverse federal congress last month.

It had brought together thousands of delegates who had reaffirmed their confidence in the party and the leadership they had elected.

At the congress‚ the party had supported the inclusion of diversity as a value and had adopted 18 strategic resolutions that would form the basis of its manifesto offer before next year’s general elections.

“As such‚ the reports in the City Press today are nothing more than rumours and gossip,” she said.

“These fictitious ‘senior leaders’ are not even mentioned once in the story, but comments from the chief executive of a think-tank seek to give these rumours importance.”

She said the DA leadership was currently on a roadshow‚ engaging with the party structures before next year’s elections.