Selfe has little actual power: Maimane

In the interview, in which Maimane also distanced himself from Zille’s views on colonialism and expresses regret as to the way both the Zille and De Lille matters were handled internally by his party, Maimane shot down criticism that he is only a figurehead – his party actually run by powerful white party veterans.

“To purport that James is someone with more power than me is a figment of the imagination”, he said, adding that Selfe’s role in managing election lists and disciplinary processes may give outsiders the sense that he has more power than he actually does.

READ MORE: DA’s Natasha ‘dark father’ Mazzone under Twitter fire for race comment. 

“I think we give people by virtue of the colour of their skin too much power … Maybe it comes from our own history. If there is a white person in the room, we think that’s the person in charge”, he added.

Maimane’s attempts at making the DA more racially diverse were opposed by a lobby led by MPs Gavin Davis and Michael Cardo, who forced the DA leader to compromise on a proposal put forward to promote diversity.

James Selfe addresses supporters at the opening ceremony of the Democratic Alliance’s Federal Congress held at the Thwane Events Center, 7 April 2018, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles

MP Natasha Mazzone took to Twitter early in May in opposition to comments made by Maimane about white privilege, highlighting how her father had dark skin and built himself up from nothing.

The tweets were slammed, with people suggesting that Mazzone was trying to allege that the challenges of some white people under apartheid were equal to those of black people.

“My father arrived from Naples in Italy, he was dark, and could not speak English or Afrikaans, but he was a great chef. He built himself up from nothing to make a good life for his family. I HONOUR and thank my father,” she tweeted.

Many have suggested that this incident and others highlight that there are racial tensions within the DA. Maimane played down these tensions in his interview this weekend.