Johannesburg – Calls are growing in the DA for party leaders John Steenhuisen and Helen Zille to be taken to task over the party’s poor showing in the by-elections and the departure of senior black leaders.
Party insiders told Sunday World that since the emergence of the duo, the official opposition has been bleeding support in black, coloured and Indian communities due to the belief that Steenhuisen and Zille were pushing a white agenda.
The DA posted another dismal performance in the by-elections this week, as the party’s feisty MP and its longest-serving spokesperson Phumzile van Damme became the latest senior black leader to resign as an MP. Van Damme cited the domination of a “clique” when she left parliament, where she also served the party as shadow minister of communications.
The DA yesterday held its first national rally in the run-up to the local elections, which are scheduled for October 27.
This comes after the party continued to hemorrhage support in black communities during the by-elections on Wednesday.
The DA lost three wards in Joburg, the country’s economic hub, where the official opposition led a coalition that used to govern the crucial metro.
Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) took two big 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 Tshwane, the DA dropped support in ward 44 (Faerie Glen), moving from 89% of the votes to 65%.
The FF+ moved from 4% to 31% in a development analyst said showed that Afrikaner voters were switching from the DA to the FF+.
DA spokesperson Siviwe Garube said the results reflected a DA that is “stabilising and moving towards a trajectory of growth”.
She said the loss of three wards in Johannesburg was a result of their previous coalition government. But insiders said that the party is masking the real reasons behind the loss in electoral support.
“We lost three wards in Joburg. And that’s holding on? You must ask whether John and Helen will take responsibility for the loss since taking over leadership, as they are losing by-elections,” a DA leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The DA goes to the local polls with a bloodied nose after the official opposition emerged as the biggest loser in last November’s historic by-elections, which were held across 55 municipalities in all provinces.
In Gauteng, where 14 wards were hotly contested, the DA lost four wards in total to the ANC, PA and Al-Jama-ha.
The ANC took ward 16 (Arcon Park, Vereeniging) in Emfuleni in Sedibeng.
The governing party also took ward 120 (Lenasia South) from the DA.
The official opposition lost ward 68 (Riverlea) to PA and was also beaten by Al-Jamaha in ward 9 (Lenasia 1,3, 7 and 13). At the time, Zille said the results showed the “splintering of the non-racial moderate centre” by ethnic small parties that continued to grow.
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