Trollip comes out swinging to defend Maimane

Former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip repudiates the notion that Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane’s leadership cost the party votes in the last general election.

This comes a week before the party’s organisational review panel is expected to table a report on how the party lost a significant proportion of supporters, and recommend the direction the party should take in future.

The panel, which includes political strategist Ryan Coetzee, former party leader Tony Leon and Capitec Bank founder Michiel le Roux, is expected to table the report before the party’s federal council on October 19.

Commentators have speculated this report could be the final nail in the coffin for Maimane’s reign, but Trollip has contended the party’s loss in support should not be blamed on Maimane’s leadership.

“Our losses at the polls in the last election were not due to that.

“It was due to losses to the Freedom Front Plus and, as I don’t believe they represent a credible and progressive future for our country, I believe we can convince people to vote for us again if we are unambiguous about our policies,” he added.

Before the elections, political analysts suggested Maimane was destined to take the fall for any decline in support, and the recent scandals involving the use of a luxury car and a house linked to disgraced firm Steinhoff only served to make it even more probable he would not survive into another term.

While in reality the party’s troubles were bigger than Maimane, and had more to do with internal battles, it was plausible that the report could be used to indict him for perceived failure to lead the party to victory.

Maimane has been criticised for alienating some members of the party’s core voter demographic by supporting policies such as black economic empowerment and for failing to deal with factional battles in the party. But Trollip argued the evolution of the party was necessary.

“The DA of 2019 is different to the DA that Helen Zille led, different to the DA that Tony Leon led, different to the Democratic Party, the Progressive Federal Party and the Progressive Party.

“Parties that don’t change and move with the times die. Both the previous leaders led these changes to garner votes from new constituencies and to realign the DA and politics in SA.”

Trollip is running for the position of federal council chairperson against Mike Waters, Thomas Walters and former DA leader Helen Zille.

Zille argued that the party was ailing in part because of those who wanted to bring racial politics into it. She stressed that the party was not a racial-nationalist party and that it should “never try to mobilise members and supporters on a racial-nationalist ticket”.

“Traditionally the party sought to move away from race-based policies. Some people in the party appear to believe we should now define ourselves in racial terms.”

The former Western Cape premier said she was running because she believed the party was in trouble and needed stability.

“I have the skills required for the position, and I think I can play a stabilising role in the DA, which is what it needs.”

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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