DA Agang merge short-lived
JOBURG - Less than a week after their widely-publicised and controversial political alliance was announced, the DA and Agang SA have parted ways.
The DA announced on 2 February that Dr Mamphela Ramphele would no longer be the party’s Presidential candidate and that Agang SA would not be incorporated into the party.
In the statement, DA leader Helen Zille lashed out at Ramphele, saying that she could not be trusted.
“Since Tuesday’s announcement, Dr Ramphele has been playing a game of cat and mouse – telling the media one thing, Agang supporters another thing, and the DA another,” Zille said.
The decision to sever political ties was sparked by contradictory statements issued by the DA and Agang SA on 31 January.
According to a joint statement issued by Ramphele and Zille, the Agang SA founder would be welcomed into the DA at a news conference in Johannesburg on 3 February.
However, following the joint statement, Ramphele said in a message on Agang SA’s website that it was “not true” that she would be joining the DA.
Both parties held an independent press briefing on 3 February.
Speaking at the Agang SA press briefing, Ramphele blamed party politics for the split, adding that she “may have rushed into union with DA”.
According to Ramphele, members of both parties were unhappy with her being announced as the DA’s Presidential candidate.
Agang SA would continue to build a party that welcomes all, she said.
However, she said Agang needed to refocus its vision.
Meanwhile, Zille said that the decision to choose Ramphele as the party’s Presidential candidate was a “calculated risk”, adding that the party planned to “cut its losses and move on”.
However, the decision to approach Ramphele to be the DA’s Presidential candidate was not made in haste and had been on the cards since 2010, she said.
Speaking at the DA’s media briefing, Zille noted that concerns about the alliance had emerged before it was made official.
According to Zille, on the morning that the announcement was made Ramphele decided to rewrite her press statement saying that she would remain the leader of Agang SA while being the Presidential candidate of the DA, which had not been discussed.
After addressing her concerns with Ramphele and reiterating the leaders’ initial plan to incorporate Agang SA into the DA, Ramphele agreed to follow through with the decisions that were originally made.
“We hit a bump but I thought it had been resolved,” Zille said.
Zille made no indication of who the DA’s new Presidential candidate would be.
