DA leaders’ war of words on value charter
‘Athol really tore into Wilmot, accusing him of electioneering. Afterwards, there was a deathly silence
THE decision to make the family rather than the individual the focus of the DA’s new values charter caused a major disagreement between two DA leaders in opposing camps of the party yesterday afternoon.
Federal chairman Wilmot James, a candidate in the leadership election tomorrow, and Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip, who will be contesting for the position of federal chairman, had a major fall-out at a meeting yesterday, which is expected to spill onto the congress floor this morning. The values charter, which places much emphasis on the importance of strong families without defining what a strong family is or is not – and what constitutes a weak family – served before the party’s federal council yesterday afternoon, at a meeting at The Willows Resort and Conference Centre in Port Elizabeth.
Sources say James proposed amendments to the charter, arguing that, in a liberal party, the fo- cus must fall on the role of the individual. He said he was in full support of families, but that the rights of the individual must remain paramount in any DA value charter.
According to members of the federal council, Trollip lost his temper and attacked James for bringing the amendments to the table one day before the federal congress.
“Athol really tore into Wilmot, accusing him of electioneering (against his opponent for the leadership, Mmusi Maimane). Afterwards, there was a deathly silence,” said a shocked federal council member.
After the matter was brought to a vote, James mustered only eight votes from the more than a 100 DA leadership figures present.
It is expected that the matter of family values and the value of family would resurface this morning. Quizzed on the charter, James Selfe, DA Federal Executive chairman, said the values and vision document was aimed at pin- pointing why people got up in the morning to vote for the DA.
“It cannot just be anti-ANC, or just focus on good governance. It needs to be more compelling; it needs to embody the emotional connection South Africans feel to the DA. If it were simply up to rational arguments, we would win every election. But we don’t do as well as we want to. People need to know: The DA is on my side; the DA says what I think,” Selfe said.
Regarding the new focus on “family”, Selfe explained that the DA supported “the value of family” rather than the more conservative “family values” of what he calls “mid-American Republicanism”. “It emphasises that children need structure. The phenomenon of single or child-headed house- holds often lead to disempowerment, and the migrant labour system destroyed family life.”
He denied that the DA was now turning its back on or judging single parents, gay parents, childless couples, divorced parents or other family forms than the traditional, nuclear family unit.
“Speaking from my own experience, children from a caring, disciplined family are generally more successful in life. This would include nuclear families, but also grandparents, foster parents, aunts, neighbours, gay families – emotional support in a variety of what can be termed family structures,” Selfe said.
Trollip declined to comment.
Have your say Text your opinion to 32972. R1 per SMS. Errors billed.