DA in ‘damage control’ mode

The Democratic Alliance is its own worst enemy and has definitely lost sympathy votes from the black middle class ahead of the 2021 local government elections, says DA KwaZulu-Natal member of provincial legislature Mbali Ntuli.

Ntuli yesterday announced she will be running for the federal leadership in May.

In a letter seen by The Citizen, Ntuli painted a dreary picture of the current status of the party, saying it was now in a state of damage control, while members have lost faith in the organisation.

Ntuli listed several issues within the party for its decline, including the loss of half a million voters at last year’s national elections, losing votes in almost every recent by-election, losing confidence of other opposition parties which resulted in the loss of municipalities, losing donors, retrenchments and resignations of staff and negativity from political commentators.

Since losing leaders such as Mmusi Maimane, Athol Trollip and Herman Mashaba, many activists and party members have also jumped ship, Ntuli said.

“Just a few months ago, we were focusing on taking over government. Today, we are in a permanent state of damage control. We no longer plan to take over governments; we are planning to just hold on to our existing support base,” she said.

But political analyst Prof Barry Hanyane said this was because of issues of race, trust within the party and privilege .

After creating the impression that the party favoured black voters when black leaders such as Mashaba, Maimane and Solly Msimanga were at the helm, the party had lost the confidence of black voters.

“The ground is shaky and there are visible cracks on the wall which will begin to disrupt the DA’s election machine,” he said.