Mmusi Maimane and his allies are fighting back as pressure mounts on his leadership of the DA less than three weeks before a crucial federal council meeting is due to take place.
Maimane has come under attack in the past few weeks over a house he was renting in Cape Town that he initially declared as his own, and most recently for the Steinhoff sponsored car he is said to have driven for months after SA’s largest corporate scandal broke, with some party members demanding answers and transparency from him.
Maimane denies all allegations against him.
The DA’s finance committee is probing the allegations, which were leaked to the media, to establish the facts.
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The DA had a dismal showing in the 2019 general election where it lost national support for the first time. It bled support most prominently to the Freedom Front Plus on the right and the ANC on the left. This trend has continued in by-election results, prompting some in the party to call for Maimane’s head.
On Wednesday, Maimane declared that he was ready to fight for his vision of the party. He said he believed that knives were out for him as a result of the more inclusive direction he was taking the party in.
"For me I’m not going to shy away from this issue, I am committed to the battle. I am committed to fighting for one SA for all, I’m committed, with the centre of those in the party, because they are more in the majority than less," he said in an interview with Business Day.
"I am not going to become some Freedom Front Plus lite or Economic Freedom Fighter lite.
"I want a party that says it works for all and for the voters."
There are two main factions in the fight for the soul of the DA: those who want to hang on to the DA’s liberal roots and those calling for greater diversity.
Maimane said that his message to those who have come out against him was: "Act like democrats".
He said the DA had a future to work for and he invited his detractors to be a part of that. Otherwise it was time for the party to go to a congress and let the delegates decide which way they wanted to go, he said.
Maimane said that party members who were publicly speaking out against policies were violating the DA’s constitution, and that they should be taken to task.
"Frankly there have been too many in the DA who have felt that they have the opportunity to go contradict us in public and I think it must be taken to task. They violate the constitution to the peril of the organisation."
Maimane’s proposal to hold an early congress has been previously rejected by the party’s highest decision-making body, the federal executive, which said it would be undesirable given that the current leadership was only elected 18 months ago.
Some in the party believe that the review of the DA’s structures and processes, which will be presented at the federal council meeting later in October, will be used as ammunition for a call to remove him as party leader.
Maimane, however, is said to have the backing of provincial leaders ahead of the meeting.
Gauteng leader John Moodey said Maimane had made his case to the provincial leaders and that he had no reason to doubt his version.
He said it was clear that the leaks were an attempt to have Maimane removed as DA leader, as there had been a previous call on him to resign, which was rejected.
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