Johannesburg – The DA has moved to defend a list of election managers that is predominantly white, amid criticism that it lacked diversity and fears that the team will cost the official opposition votes at the local elections.
DA federal chairperson Helen Zille said the list was made up of the organisation’s leaders who had volunteered to lead the party’s election campaigns without extra pay.
“This is a list of names whose heads will be on the chopping block if the campaign goes wrong in their areas. No one wants that responsibility, believe me,” she said.
The composition of the DA’s list of managers has caused another racial storm in the organisation.
Some black leaders told Sunday World that they had accepted that a clique of white leaders was now dominating the party. A DA insider said the list would have a direct impact on the party’s performance at the local elections, scheduled for October 27.
“This is not good at all. It does not symbolise diversity. But what can we do? We are going backwards. We won’t be kingmakers,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source said since the departure of former leader Mmusi Maimane and the erstwhile mayor Herman Mashaba, the organisation was battling to ward off allegations that it had abandoned its diversity message.
Another DA leader said issues on diversity would be raised when reflecting on the party’s performance during the forthcoming local elections and the recent by-elections, which saw the organisation continuing to lose support in black, coloured and Indian communities.
Last month, the party lost three wards in Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub, where the official opposition led a coalition that used to govern the crucial metro.
Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance won two wards from the DA in Eldorado Park and Kliptown while the official opposition lost ward 7 to the ANC. The DA’s support in Eldorado Park dropped from 81% in 2016 to 22%.
In November, the party emerged as the biggest loser during the by-elections, which were held across 55 municipalities in all provinces.
The party has also been of late rocked by resignations of senior black leaders. Zille defended the lack of participation by black people in the party’s e le c t ions machinery.
“This is one very tiny component of the DA. There are many others where black people have the dominant voices – in our policy team and as our spokesperson.
“But their race is not the issue. Their capacity to do the job excellently is the issue,” she said. “You will also notice that we never criticise the ANC for being almost totally undiverse in all respects. That is because their race is not the issue. Their ability to do the job is,” Zille added.
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