The DA’s decision to pick Helen Zille as its Joburg mayoral candidate has forced it to abandon its “merit” stance, and it is now looking for an affirmative action candidate to take the reins in Ekurhuleni.
Sunday World can reveal that, of all the candidates the party interviewed for the Ekurhuleni mayoral chain, Mike Waters scored the most points, but the blue party leadership overlooked him.
This is because fielding an all-white team for the troika of metros – Zille for Johannesburg, Cilliers Brink for Tshwane and Waters for Ekurhuleni – was going to lend credence to the narrative that it is a white party.
Zille has emerged as the party spoiler because expectations were for Brink to return as mayor of Tshwane following his humiliating removal last year after a public fallout between his party and coalition partner ActionSA.
Waters is now poised to become the sacrificial lamb to save the party from a racial politics nightmare, but that will also leave the door wide open to criticism that the party’s merit mantra can be jettisoned at the altar of expediency.
“That was the issue; the DA realised it would face backlash if it didn’t have at least one black candidate in Gauteng,” a senior party member said.
Sunday World understands that the DA interviewed four candidates for Ekurhuleni’s top post. Two white candidates, Waters and former mayor Tania Campbell and two black candidates.
However, the three were deemed not to be up to standard, as they lacked political clout to pull off a win in what is billed to be a watershed and historic municipal election since the democratic dispensation.
As if that were not enough, adding to the complexity is the fact that Waters carries potential reputational risks due to “sex-for-jobs” allegations he once faced, though he remains a respected figure within party ranks.
Now his supporters in the party are insistent that he aced the selection process for the mayoral post on merit and should therefore wear the chain.
“He’s highly regarded in the DA, which is why his name came up. But his detractors are adamant that the controversy around him cannot be ignored,” said another highly placed
informant.
Campbell is also said to have fared well in the selection process thanks to previous experience, having briefly served as mayor after the 2021 elections when Refiloe Ntšekhe, a black candidate, was forced to decline the role by party bosses.
However, Campbell’s short tenure was widely considered underwhelming, and insiders say the party lacks achievements in the city to showcase in the upcoming campaign because of her alleged poor leadership during her short-lived stint.
“She was not the original choice for mayor, and there are ongoing discussions about the long-term use and development of leaders. The party is increasingly focused on succession planning. You have people like Tania or Mike who have been around for a long time, but the future may lie with a new generation,” said a party source.
Campbell confirmed to Sunday World that candidates have completed all internal processes and are now awaiting a final decision from the federal executive, the DA’s highest decision-making body between conferences.
She downplayed the delays to announce a candidate caused by the consideration to circumvent merit in favour of affirmative action, which is an antithesis of what the DA espouses.
“What I do know is that there is an election strategy with set timelines, and those are
discussed at the federal level,” she said.
The two black mayoral candidates are little-known Malcolm Maifala, the DA’s regional deputy chairperson in Ekurhuleni, and Lucky Dinake, the current chief whip in the metro.
However, they are both seen as lacking strong public profiles or political influence.
Maifala was not aware of the apprehensions around his application and said the region was still waiting for a formal announcement by DA’s top brass regarding the matter.
“We don’t know what’s going on. We’re still waiting for the party to make an official announcement,” Maifala said.
The DA’s federal leadership, in an apparent attempt to salvage the situation, is said to have approached Midvaal executive mayor Peter Teixeira, who is black, to run for the Ekurhuleni mayoral position.
However, a source said Teixeira declined, opting instead to seek re-election in
Midvaal, a DA stronghold.
The party is now believed to be looking outside of its ranks for a “suitable candidate”, either through headhunting or re-opening the application process, in which Waters and Campbell will be convinced to not throw their hats in the ring.
