LIMPOPO – The DA has hit back after a councillor in the Fetakgomo Local Municipality, Derick Mosoana left the party last week citing allegations of racism.
Announcing his departure on social media, Mosoana said he was leaving after “wide consultation coupled with dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in the party.”
He thanked several DA roleplayers, including federal deputy chairperson Desiree van der Walt.
According to Mosoana, already in February he started campaigning against the current leadership.
“I didn’t support the current party chairperson, Bodlani Langa.
“He is a Gauteng boy and came to Limpopo as a staff member. He must go home because we have people who are capable to be parliamentarians. I can’t support him,” he said.
He also raised allegations of racism: “White people are more important than blacks in the DA. The whites are councillors whereas they don’t have branches and they are given preference.
“Black councillors are transported by bus when we go to the national congress while their white counterparts are taken by airplane. We must be treated equally,” he said.
However, DA Limpopo leader Jacques Smalle refuted these allegations, saying Mosoana only has to look to the current national DA leader’s race. According to Smalle, Mosoana’s dissatisfaction came after he was demoted from councillor status to ordinary member because he didn’t pay tithe and because he was in breach of the DA’s constitution for two years.
“His decision to go is not simply about the current leadership disputes. Mosoana doesn’t understand, for example, that parliamentarians – black or white – have flying benefits. We demoted him and that is the basis for his decision to leave.”
Mosoana has in the meantime not indicated what his political intentions for the future are.
