Durban – The DA in eThekwini is embroiled in a leadership dispute after the move to elect a new caucus was challenged by individuals within the party who are calling for the elections to be stopped.
Mzamo Billy, one of the caucus leaders ousted recently through a motion of no confidence, has written to federal leader Helen Zille, calling for the election to be stopped.
In his letter that The Mercury has seen, he highlighted discrepancies about how the motion of no confidence, which saw him and the rest of his caucus leadership removed, had been carried out. The Mercury reached out to Billy, but he declined to confirm or deny the complaint.
Outgoing caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa, deputy leader Billy, chief whip Vincent Mkhize and whip Zoe Solomon were recently ousted through a motion of no confidence.
Among the reasons given was that the caucus had failed to hold the ANC to account in eThekwini. However, party insiders have described the recent upheaval within the DA in eThekwini as a battle for the control of the party’s eThekwini caucus.
“These leaders in the caucus did not support some of the leaders in the province during the recent provincial congress, for instance Mthethwa openly supported Dianne Kohler Barnard for the position of provincial chairperson over incumbent Dean Macpherson, supported Bongumusa Nhlabathi for provincial leader position over Francois Rodgers and supported Billy for deputy leader over Sthembiso Ngema,” said a source who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.
The source added that the provincial leaders knew they did not have control of the eThekwini caucus which is the biggest caucus in KZN.
“As such to get it under their control, they are doing this to ensure that they have their people in that caucus.”
The Mercury understands that despite the uncertainty, Mthethwa and Billy will contest the race should the elections go ahead.
Billy’s letter lodges a dispute regarding the process followed in the build-up to the tabling of the motion of no confidence which happened at a caucus meeting on June 13, with the outcome of the ballot on the same day.
It raised concerns about the procedure that was followed as the motion of no confidence was directed at the caucus leader, Mthethwa and the entire caucus executive, calling for the removal of all members of the caucus executive from their positions. The letter said this was in violation of the caucus rules which allow for individual leaders to be presented with motions, but not to be grouped together under one motion of no confidence.
The letter alleged that the mishandling of this motion has had consequences for the DA, pointing out that as a result of the leaders being ousted, there was currently no leadership in place.
Relief sought in the letter includes:
- That the motion of no confidence be declared invalid.
- Halting of caucus elections called by the provincial office for June 30.
- Resolution of the dispute by the national leadership.
Other party insiders also challenged the claim that the caucus was failing to hold the ANC to account. They said the party’s internal media monitoring data shows that they are among the top performing caucuses in terms of driving issues that affect voters.
However, political analyst Thabani Khumalo said the failure to hold the municipal leaders to account was a valid complaint.
“Durban is dying if it’s not dead already, yet this caucus has not been vocal about this, they should have been taking the platform to highlight the problems in Durban in the run-up to the elections next year, but they are quiet, the last real person to challenge the ANC failures is (now ActionSA leader Zwakele) Mncwango,” he said.
The DA national office directed all communication to the provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson. He said: “I am unaware that any dispute has been lodged. A majority of caucus members signed and supported a motion of no confidence in the leadership because they believed the leadership had not achieved the objectives of the caucus.”
He said the objectives included ensuring DA councillors are supplied with necessary information so that they can promote discussions on current issues that affect the municipality, identify contraventions of legislation and hold the governing party accountable for such contraventions among many.
“That decision and the reasons stated in writing are respected by the DA, as you can see the reasons (are) not what is claimed,” he said.
THE MERCURY
