DA councillors’ delay to register for re-election ‘not a concern’

DA leader John Steenhuisen’s office said a circular urging DA councillors to register for re-election before the April deadline was not cause for concern.

Yesterday, chairman of the Association of DA Councillors, Phillip de Lange, refused to comment on account that it was a Sunday, when asked about a letter he wrote expressing grave concern that councillors were not registering at a fast-enough rate.

But DA spokesperson Azola Mboniswa said he did not see an issue with De Lange’s letter because there was still time for candidates to apply to run for next year’s municipal elections.

According to the Sunday Times, the letter came as “several” councillors appeared reluctant to run for office citing a lack of confidence in the party.

Meanwhile, political analyst Andre Duvenhage said the party should be concerned that the party was facing a leadership crisis following the resignation of former leader Mmusi Maimane, former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba and a slew of other local and provincial leaders last year.

The resignations were largely in reaction to the ascension of former Western Cape Premier Helen Zille to the chair of the party’s federal council. According to Duvenhage, the party was facing a support crisis from interest groups which regarded racial issues as important in policy development.

Duvenhage understood that minority interest group AfriForum had at least 30% of their membership was in some way tied to the DA.

“The only thing that may rescue the DA is the apparent lack of leadership in parties in those constituencies such as Freedom Front Plus (FF+), who lack a macro strategy and in a sense, people from there are becoming more aligned with the DA, but it is a grey area at the moment.”

This meant that areas such as the DA-run Midvaal in Gauteng could see support for the party dwindling in the race to next year’s election as the party bleeds black leaders and councillors along with their voters.

Frans Cronje, chief executive of the Institute of Race Relations, said the party had its work cut out repairing the damage before next year’s poll.

“Leaders and strategists who had failed to grow the party were removed and replaced. A clearer policy offering has been drafted. However, whether this will be sufficient to make up for the damage done in the run-up to 2021 remains to be seen.”

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