White laptop boys’ misled Mmusi Maimane: GOOD Party MP Brett Herron
WHILE GOOD Party MP Brett Herron has accepted an unconditional apology from Build South Africa’s leader Mmusi Maimane over a fallout dating back to their days as DA members, he has made unflattering remarks about the opposition outfit.
Maimane and Herron left the DA at different defining moments following growing tension within the top structures of the party.
The public spats happened back when GOOD Party leader Patricia de Lille was still the mayor of Cape Town under the DA’s political banner.
She and a group of DA councillors claimed they wanted to change the
DA’s approach to service delivery, insofar as the lives of blacks and coloureds were concerned.
At the time they stated that their attempts were met with resistance, which led them to resign from the party in 2018.
This resulted in the formation of GOOD.
According to Maimane, he took the DA’s war with De Lille and Herron to an SABC-owned radio station, where he labelled Herron a corrupt racist.
“On December 13, 2018, in a radio interview on SAfm, I stated that Brett Herron was racist, corrupt and wanted by the police. My remarks stemmed from a briefing I’d received on the contents of the Bowman’s Report on corruption in the City of Cape Town.
“Having now had ample opportunity to study the report, and consider the analysis of a trusted senior counsel, it is clear that what I said about Brett was unjustified, unfair and untrue,” said Maimane.
Maimane said he made the remarks “at a difficult time for the DA” when De Lille, Brett and others left the party.
“As the DA leader, I adopted a generally robust and adversarial stance. In respect of the Bowman’s Report, I relied on the interpretations of colleagues and on reflection I accept that my comments were unwise and ill-considered.”
Herron confirmed accepting Maimane’s apology, but stated that the former DA leader was acting under the pressure brought on by behindthe-scenes “white laptop boys”.