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Mmusi Maimane, former DA leader now in charge of OSA.
- Former DA Mmusi Maimane leader says the party’s top leadership has abandoned its national project and remains only interested in the Western Cape.
- Maimane also says he was unable to implement a plan to increase the voter base of the middle class and youth.
- He launched a scathing attack on the district attorney in a Twitter post after a Sunday Times report in which party leader John Steenhuisen revealed that they would be willing to work with the ANC in 2024 under the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa.
Former DA Mmusi Maimane leader says the party opening the door to a possible coalition with the ANC under the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa in 2024 is an admission of defeat and an acknowledgment that they cannot grow.
In a scathing attack on Twitter on Sunday, Maimane said party leader John Steenhuisen and federal CEO Helen Zille had resigned from the national project.
READ | John Steenhuisen: This is the district attorney’s plan to replace cadre deployment with professional appointments.
“John and Helen don’t care about fixing the problems of this nation. They care about the Western Cape and keeping power there. They have given up on the national project and are now returning to the party’s historic voters and abandoning the rest.” . It’s obvious, “Maimane said.
The furor comes after a Sunday Times report in which Steenhuisen revealed that the party would be willing to work with the ANC, if Ramaphosa is president, in the 2024 general election.
Steenhuisen told the newspaper that the prosecution had lost support due to a “weak” campaign without a coherent message in the 2019 national and provincial elections led by Maimane.
He said the district attorney had lost voters as a result, while EFF and Freedom Front Plus had increased their support, and that this was the basis for the review that ultimately led to Maimane’s resignation.
In response, Maimane tweeted: “I usually keep quiet about the district attorney because I am a gentleman, but I do notice that John Steenhuisen (@jsteenhuisen) has mentioned my name in the Sunday Times article (@SundayTimesZA) and as such , I will clarify. In 2019, the district attorney did not lose for me, but for John and Helen Zille (@helenzille). “
John and Helen don’t care about fixing the problems of this nation.
They care about the Western Cape and maintaining power there.
They have renounced the national project and are now returning to the party’s historic voters and abandoning the rest.
It’s obvious.
– Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) February 28, 2021
Maimane said that the central issue South Africans had to accept was that there was no such thing as a good or bad ANC.
“We have seen the corruption of both factions, and we have seen 27 years of mismanagement and misuse of state resources. I said it before and I will say it again. It is the ANC. Today the DA says that they are open to coalition with some factions of the ANC as long as Ramaphosa (@CyrilRamaphosa) is the president. They are officially out of the opposition and are now themselves a faction of the ANC. It is an admission of defeat. An acknowledgment that they cannot grow, “he said. .
Maimane said that when he joined the prosecution, he had wanted to grow the voter base among the country’s middle class and youth.
He said:
“To grow as a political party you have to be honest with people about the history of this country. The privilege exists. We have to diversify the seats in parliament. We have to work for equity and justice for the land. We have to see people, their pain and we cannot be color blind. Now why did the district attorney lose in 2019? He wanted us to grow our voter base among the middle class and youth of South Africa. That requires talking to them about topics that interest them. John and Helen closed that door. As you can see from his current messages and tactics. “
Maimane said it would be naive to think that voters weren’t looking at the diversity of the DA in Parliament.
READ HERE | Steenhuisen concerned by FF + ‘threat’ amid global rise in identity politics
“As a leader, I cannot go to a college student and tell him there is no white privilege, race is not a factor in South Africa. I would be lying to them and they would criticize me for my BS,” he said.
On the subject of unity, Maimane said:
“I believe in unity. I realize that vision takes a lot of work. It requires ending the discussions that were suspended after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It takes work. It takes more than sports and braais to fix our divisions, ”he said.
When asked for comment, Steenhuisen’s office said it would not respond “at this time.”
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