DA crisis deepens as Maimane, Trollip quit
Resignations come two days after Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba walked away
Mmusi Maimane succumbed to the inevitable and resigned as DA leader, plunging SA’s main opposition party into further turmoil less than two years before its next major electoral challenge.
The party, whose performance in major cities across SA in the 2016 elections was seen as a breakthrough moment that could establish it as an alternative to the ANC nationally, is facing a leadership crisis after its federal chair and Maimane ally Athol Trollip also resigned on Wednesday.
That came two days after Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba announced his decision to walk away with a blistering attack on the party and newly elected chair of the federal council Helen Zille.
Business Day reported on Tuesday that Maimane, who stood beside Mashaba as he announced his departure, had gone to ground and could be gone by the end of the week.
The turmoil could be devastating for the DA, which was hoping to consolidate its position in the 2021 local government elections and win outright the metros that it is at present governing through coalitions.
Maimane’s resignation follows the party’s disastrous performance in May elections, which resulted in the appointment of a review panel that eventually recommended that he, former CEO Paul Boughey and former federal council chair James Selfe resign.
The May election, in which the DA lost support for the first time, prompted months of increasing pressure amid ideological differences between those who want it to return to its liberal roots, and those who want to broaden its appeal through diversity policies.
Since the election of Zille, the former party leader who oversaw growth in support before handing over to Maimane, the DA has spiralled into a state of instability as it is now unclear who will lead SA’s official opposition. After stepping down from the leadership role, Zille became a divisive figure, alienating some with tweets about colonialism and black privilege.
According to the DA’s constitution, the federal chair becomes the acting leader when the leader resigns, but this is the position Trollip has now
resigned from. Zille said that the DA has asked for legal advice on how to proceed, because it does not want to rush into something that may be unconstitutional. The party will then “chart the way forward”.
Zille said the federal executive had attempted to convince Trollip and Maimane to stay on until the DA went to an early congress in 2020. However after hours of discussion, they “ceased arguing” and accepted their decision.
Maimane said it had become quite clear over the past few months that there “exists a grouping within the DA who do not see eye to eye with me, and do not share this vision for the party and the direction it was taking”.
He said there had been a “consistent and co-ordinated” attempt to undermine his leadership and to ensure that either the project he was building, or he himself, failed.
The DA had always been “but a vehicle” to pursue and further a vision that he is still committed to, Maimane said. “In the end we have come to the conclusion that despite my best efforts, the DA is not the vehicle best suited to take forward the vision of building ‘One SA for All’.”
Maimane said he would continue in his role as parliamentary leader until the end of 2019.
Trollip said his decision to resign, along with Maimane, was not an easy one. Although his name was not mentioned in the review report in terms of the leadership deficit in the party, he believed that they should take collective responsibility.
“There is a time to come and a time to go in politics. It was probably my time to go,” he said.