Van Damme denies she quit the DA
PHUMZILE van Damme has denied that she has resigned as a member of the DA.
The party said this week that she resigned as an MP and her membership of the party.
But yesterday Van Damme said she remained a DA member and there was a misunderstanding from the party’s side.
"No. Not a U-turn. I didn’t relinquish my membership. I honestly think it was a misunderstanding on the party’s part," Van Damme wrote on Twitter yesterday.
"The DA would have to terminate my membership.
I didn’t say I resign as a DA member. I think a genuine mistake was made.
“Maybe, or rather, a misunderstanding. My letter to the leadership quite clearly stated. It is not the DA I resign from.”
Recently, the DA has been rocked by the resignation of some of its senior leaders.
Political analysts said there could be reasons why leaders in the official opposition left.
Van Damme’s is one of several prominent resignations of a DA black leader in recent months.
Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga said Van Damme’s resignation was not good news for the DA.
“The party has been struggling to try to reach out to the other constituency, they have been trying to reach out to black, raising ideas they are a multiracial party in South Africa.the rate at which they are losing black leaders is quite concerning, it says that those leaders are not finding a space in the DA, I think the DA should be worried,” said Mathekga.
Another political analyst Tessa Dooms said the DA needed to be conscious about what was happening in the party and when leaders resigned.
Dooms said not only was Van Damme a black leader, she was a young leader with experience.
“It seems that just as leaders emerge, somehow the higher-ups in the organisation, whoever they may be, find ways to either push people to the side. That has been seen with people like Mbali Ntuli, who seemed to be a rising star in the DA and all of a sudden we found her reeling outside of the mainstream of the party and, of course, we have seen many DA leaders who have exited just as they starting to come into the top leadership,” she said.