Maimane caused a ‘slide away’ from the DA’s ‘core values’ – Steenhuisen

During an interview on 702 on Tuesday morning about his bid to become the party’s interim leader, Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader and former chief whip John Steenhuisen justified the events that led to former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane’s resignation.

Steenhuisen was questioned by interviewer Eusebius McKaiser and he said he didn’t think the review panel report, which recommended that Maimane should step down, overreached its scope.

He then expressed similar views on the DA former leader to the report itself.

According to Steenhuisen, Maimane was “telegenic and charismatic but … there was a lack of decisiveness, a slide away from core party values … although these beleaguered the organisation as a whole. The buck stops with the leader’s office.”

These sentiments echo those in the report released by a review panel comprising former leaders Tony Leon and Ryan Coetzee along with Capitec founder Michiel le Roux.

“The overwhelming view of those who made submissions or with whom we held discussions is that the party leader, while immensely talented, committed to the cause, hardworking and widely liked, can be indecisive, inconsistent and conflict-averse,” the report read.

It further said that, among others, it led to a lack of clarity on the party’s vision and direction, erosion of unity of purpose and the breakdown of trust between the leader and some of the party’s structures.

READ MORE: Maimane’s future, race and losing votes – what the DA’s panel review says

The report called for Maimane to “consider” stepping down, but the party’s federal council instead opted for an early conference and a policy conference.

Maimane made the decision to resign on October 24 all the same.

Zamikhaya Maseti, a political economy analyst, told The Citizen in a report which describes the DA parliamentary leader as Maimane’s former “right-hand man” that Steenhuisen was a chameleon who betrayed Maimane by not resigning.

“Steenhuisen represents the ‘Judas Iscariotism’ that is creeping within the DA, because he was part of the Maimane leadership. Now he is demonising him, when Athol Trollip took the most principled stand to resign and take responsibility for the DA’s poor performance in the last election,” Maseti said.

“This is an act of betrayal. Steenhuisen can’t be a good leader of the party because he has no backbone. Anyone who leads the DA will be confronted by the same challenges that confronted Maimane.”

The party will vote on Sunday, November 17. Steenhuisen is competing against only one other contender, Gauteng MPL Makashule Gana.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Background reporting, News24 Wire and Eric Naki)

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