DA did not lose eThekwini because of ‘arrogance’, says Steenhuisen

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed opinions from different political leaders that the party has arrogant leaders, which resulted in the party losing eThekwini on Wednesday.

ActionSA leaders Herman Mashaba and Makhosi Khoza and the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Dali Mpofu are some of the political figures who have called on DA leaders to drop the arrogance when dealing with smaller parties.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Khoza said political parties had enough numbers to vote the African National Congress out of power in eThekwini on Monday, before some made a U-turn, complaining about the DA’s arrogance.

“What happened on Monday when the meeting was disrupted, we had the numbers and I’m just feeling sad today because we lost the numbers, primarily because most of them they were complaining about DA arrogance and some of the comments of Helen Zille. I tried to persuade them and they couldn’t take it, they were saying it’s too much,” said Khoza.

“They found themselves in a dilemma where you have ANC’s corruption and arrogance and DA’s racism and arrogance. A lot has happened, we can see with the DA trying to tone down, they were very arrogant initially, I experienced it myself but they toned it down. I spoke to Nicole that ‘you know what’s at stake here, if you continue with your arrogance you will lose out’.”

Mpofu also took to social media to slam the party’s arrogance, blaming it for giving eThekwini municipality to the ANC.

“The extremely stupid and arrogant go-it-alone mentality of the DA created by the Steenhuisen/Zille racist duet has restored kleptocracy in Ethekwini for another 5 years, defying the voters. But for serious political chess play by EFF, the ANC would’ve also taken all 3 Gauteng Metros!”

But Steenhuisen says there is no arrogance in the DA, saying it is a narrative being driven by some. The DA leader said the good governance with smaller parties in Tshwane is proof that there is no arrogance among DA leaders.

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“[That we lost eThekwini because of our arrogance] is an imagination of the person that said that. We know why we lost eThekwini today, we know why the ANC needed two days to secure that win. You can’t blame the DA for that, that’s taking it a little bit too far. I said we would go into coalition talks with all these parties in good faith and we will listen and be humble and generous. This notion of arrogance is not born out of the record where we have been in government. This notion of arrogance is a narrative being driven by some,” he told the news channel.