Will the real Mmusi Maimane please stand up?

A lot has been said of DA leader Mmusi Maimane emulating other politicians. The man is indeed a chameleon, Mandela today, Obama next week.

If you ever wanted to see what rapid transformation is, watch video clips of Maimane delivering speeches.

There is a different persona for every event, audience, geographical footprint and race.

His persona may be forever changing but his critics remain the same – mostly black Twitter.

We are the first to scream and shout that the man is a phony and question his abilities to lead without a puppet master at play.

We are the first to call him out on his “not black enough” approach to South African politics.

Forgetting that, no matter how he may have been invited to the table of greatness, the man sits at a very important table if ever we are to balance the power dynamics to reflect the racial make up of our country.

I must agree, it would be ideal, wonderful even, if Maimane was consistent in who he was. That if we wanted to mark our X next to his brimming smile, we knew what we were going to get in return.

One minute Maimane is a pastor who reminds us that though the church and state are separate entities, we have moral obligations before the Maker that compel us to carry ourselves in a certain fashion.

Next minute, the man is a hardline capitalist who counts the costs of running the country in economics and says morals will never pay the country’s foreign debt.

Having worked with some of South Africa’s top political strategists during some of the country’s most contested elections, I have come to understand that the man is scripted into being what he presents to us.

From the tie to the delivery of his speeches, I understand the political process. What we as a country must question is: do we actually understand the political game that is being played before us?

To Maimane and the strategists who keep failing the DA time and time again, you must understand that American politicking will not work in South Africa.

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

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