Lindiwe ‘not DA forever’, she says

Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko says her support for the party is not meant to last forever.

Mazibuko has also said she still does not understand why the party and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille were fighting bitterly, saying there was no need for the DA to “bleed itself in the public square”.

Mazibuko was delivering the Barry Streek memorial lecture, hosted by the Cape Town Press Club in Newlands on Tuesday.

Streek was a political journalist and long-time member of the club, who died in 2006.

A scholarship was set up several years ago in his honour to sponsor journalism students at Rhodes University.

Mazibuko said she was no longer a card-carrying member of the DA.

She had allowed her membership to lapse when she stepped down as parliamentary leader in 2014.

She remained a DA supporter – but she could not guarantee that this would last forever.

Mazibuko recently raised eyebrows when she frequented events organised by the ANC‚ but has strongly denied rumours that she was about to cross over to that party.

“If there’s an election tomorrow I would still be a DA supporter‚ but my support for the DA is not forever.

“My blood is not blue‚ well it’s blue until it gets oxygen, then it’s red‚” Mazibuko said to audience chuckles.

“Allegiance to any political party should not be forever.

“This culture of political parties being like religion really has to change.”

Mazibuko said she was baffled by the spat between the DA and De Lille‚ suggesting that the mayor was being targeted because of her gender.

“I would like to know what the Patricia de Lille issue is‚ if someone could explain it to me in simple English‚” Mazibuko said.

“It’s not right. A woman is accused of having a bad management style. I’ve never heard of a man being accused in politics of having a bad management style.” –