DA leader John Steenhuisen says he would confront federal council chairperson Helen Zille if she stirred up trouble in the party.
Faced with claims from expelled DA MP Tsepo Mhlongo that he lacked the guts to stand up for the truth and allowed Zille to run amok, Steenhuisen pushed back, saying he did confront Zille on Mhlongo’s allegations.
This is contained in a leaked telephone recording of a conversation on Tuesday night between the two former colleagues, which Sunday World listened to.
Mhlongo, who this week joined ActionSA, accused Zille of interfering with the work of the DA’s media office, claiming he had proof she had given the media officers instructions to release a statement he had written in the name of party spokesperson Solly Malatsi.
“I see that you didn’t care. You only tell me now that you supported me but you knew about this issue for some time,” Mhlongo charged.
He continued: “Last time you took it lightly when I said why Helen was interfering, you just said, ‘What are you doing to gogo’? Just passingly and jokingly. And I don’t know if they told you that I was emotional when I raised that concern.”
Steenhuisen retorted, “There is no truth to that. Helen didn’t even look at those media statements.”
But Mhlongo was not backing down, saying he had evidence to prove his claims. “I have a WhatsApp message. I can send it to you,” he said, after which Steenhuisen promised to follow up on the matter.
“I will follow it up after the caucus. I was told this was dealt with by the media office and does not have anything to do with Helen,” said Steenhuisen.
“But Helen says she has never even seen the statement you are referring to.”
Mhlongo said Zille’s alleged interference was just one example of “little things” that troubled him in the DA.
Zille told Sunday World the communications staff in the DA showed her the letter that Mhlongo posted on social media. “I am sure you will see why this does not convey a professional approach.
“The DA’s professional communications staff are based at the federal head office, for which I am politically responsible. They come to me with requests regularly. We agreed that, as this correspondence made no sense, our national spokesperson, Solly Malatsi, would deal with it.”
She accused Mhlongo of trying to come up with a scapegoat because the Federal Legal Commission (FLC) panel found that he had been involved in “cooking the membership records” in his constituency in Soweto. “If Tsepo cannot write a coherent letter to the minister, and if he then posts an incoherent letter on social media, it is appropriate that the director of communications should consult me.”
But Mhlongo told Steenhuisen Siviwe Gwarube called him to apologise. “She apologised and said Helen was wrong, and as chief whip, she was supposed to deal with the matter.”
When asked about the recording, Mhlongo said: “Ask John about that recording that you claim to have; maybe he is the one who leaked it.”
Steenhuisen did not respond to questions.
