The Democratic Alliance (DA) is expected to convene a Federal Council meeting in the next six weeks where an interim federal leader and the chairperson will be elected before congress in April 2020.
This follows the resignation of Mmusi Maimane from the party alongside Athol Trollip, and Herman Mashaba.
This means the Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille finds herself at the helm of the DA again. This decision emanates from a Federal Executive meeting that took place earlier on Thursday.
But, political Analyst Angelo Fick says the DA needs to go back to the drawing board and find it’s real ideology before discussing the way forward.
“The question remains whether or not the FedEx can appoint somebody (Zille) who is as implicated as they are … whether or not Helen Zille is primarily the responsibility is a different debate. But perception is really crucial in politics and Helen Zille knows that. So, this idea that she wants to wrestle the party back and save it from itself ought to be balanced with taking the party to its 2005/6 figures which is not a sustainable model because the politics of South Africa has shifted.”
Meanwhile, the DA has confirmed that the chairperson of the party’s caucus, Annelie Lotriet, will be the party’s interim Parliamentary leader until an election is held on Tuesday next week.
Former Federal Chairperson of the DA Athol Trollip has confirmed that he will not only end his political career at the national level, but also at the local government level. He was the former executive mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, who was controversially ousted by the UDM’s Mongameli Bobani.
Trollip is still a DA councillor in the metro, but not for long.
“I am going to be resigning as a councillor at the NMB Municipality. I am busy discussing when that exit will take place, with my provincial leader Nqaba Banga. Because the last thing we want is to have a vacancy in the council, especially with the motions of no confidence still in the pipeline. So, as soon as that is sorted out and addressed and there is a replacement for me, I will be leaving the Nelson Mandela Bay Council.”
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