Helen Zille: ‘Political assasin’ or game changer?

While the DA faces its biggest crisis of senior members jumping ship, the party now sails into uncharted waters as it will now be forced to clearly outline its identity from scratch.

The timing and announcement of incoming federal executive head Helen Zille appears to have resulted in a number of swift changes in the party, with the most recent shift being Maimane, who confirmed on Thursday morning that he has now resigned from both parliament and the party.

His resignation follows that of Herman Mashaba leaving the DA and Athol Trollip stepping down as the party’s federal chair.

As a crisis shadows the DA, one cannot help but wonder if it is all part of “some plan” or some twisted turn of events which somehow cast Zille as a common denominator.

Zille cannot directly be blamed for DA members jumping ship, but she is somehow always in the vicinity when things happen to change direction, especially for DA members. One might even laud her for changes that occur around her … whether good or bad, there’s always some controversy.

If we look at the list of DA members who have opted to leave the party, it is clear that those who crossed paths with Zille and at some point drew swords against her – left.

From Mashaba to Mamphela Ramphele, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Patricia de Lille and Maimane, Zille although cordial with all of them, had some impact on their lifespan as party members.

In both Maimane and Mashaba’s resignation speeches, they highlighted an internal tug-of-war within the party.

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 South Africa for all” while Mashaba maintained he would rather leave the party than be pushed out, after stating that he could no longer “reconcile” with a group within the party who believed that race was irrelevant in the discussion of inequality and poverty in South Africa.

Neither Maimane nor Mashaba fingered Zille as their reason for leaving, but her return to the party clearly accelerated their exit.

Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, who was seen as Zille’s ally, left the party in 2014 amid rumours of infighting. In the same year, Agang SA leader Ramphele, who, at one point kissed and had an apparently healthy relationship with Zille, pulled out of their merger and rode off into the sunset.

It seems October is becoming a month to fear for the DA as De Lille also resigned from the party around this time last year. In a dramatic resignation on the steps of the Western Cape High Court, she quit as a member of the party in the face of two reports against her compiled by law firm Bowmans, one of which was particularly damning of her. She described the report as being part of a smear campaign during her  head-to-head with DA officials. She soon her launched GOOD party, which won two seats in parliament.

The official opposition, which has roped Zille back in, now has a monumental task of clearly outlining its identity, which unfortunately may come at a loss of the black vote.

Gopolang Moloko

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