The newly-elected Democratic Alliance‘s Federal Council Chairperson, Helen Zille says they will meet on Thursday to discuss seeking legal advice on the way forward for the party.
She has conceded that the resignations of two party leaders come as a shock. This is after Mmusi Maimane resigned as the DA’s leader and Athol Trollip as Federal Executive chairperson.
The move is widely seen as a heavy blow, which the party will find difficult to deal with. Maimane and Trollip announced their resignations at a media briefing at the DA’s headquarters in Bruma, Johannesburg earlier on Wednesday.
Zille says the party’s Federal Executive was in favour of making a decision about its leadership at the federal congress instead.
She has paid tribute to Maimane and Trollip for their service.
Zille says this is an unfortunate turn of events in the history of the DA – hence the uncertainty on the way forward.
Zille spoke to the media at the DA headquarters in Johannesburg, just after the two resignations.
“This is a rather unusual situation because both the leader and the chairperson have taken individual decisions at the same time. So, before we rush into something that may not be Constitutional and may not be appropriate, we are taking legal advice as to what the right path is constitutionally and tomorrow, we will convene a federal council by tele-conference to discuss that legal advice. ”
