Political parties react to Maimane, Trollip resignations

Former Cape Town mayor and current GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille says she warned Mmusi Maimane that if he did not stand on principle, the Democratic Alliance (DA) would swallow him and spit him out.

De Lille says in a statement on her GOOD Party’s website that the problem with Maimane and what she calls his handlers is that they do not have a clue about principled leadership.

She left the party exactly a year ago after a protracted legal battle with the DA.

“If Mmusi was working to try and reflect the demographics of South Africa and he wasn’t allowed to do so, it certainly is going to be a big challenge for them to continue to pretend to be caring for all the people of South Africa, but then excluding the majority of people in our country and especially, the poor. Like I said, for me the DA is well on its way to destruction, destroying themselves and you know when people are busy with that you must simply leave them alone to continue.”

DA leader Mmusi Maimane and Federal Executive Chairperson Athol Trollip tendered their resignations  on Wednesday.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa says that the resignations will weaken the country’s opposition. Holomisa says he takes his hat off to the DA’s new Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille who has brought sweeping changes to the party in just a week.

He has also praised the outgoing DA leaders.

“The truth of the matter is that the absence of people like Mashaba, Maimane will definitely play a role in weakening the role of the opposition. Those two gentlemen have proved to the population of South Africa that they are standing for the people of this country.”

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has wished Maimane well on his future endeavours.  Spokesperson of the party, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, says the party has to meet with the new leadership since they are in cooperation government with the DA.

“This does present an issue for the IFP, which we must look at very closely because we are in cooperation governments with the DA in Gauteng and in KwaZulu-Natal. So, we have to now interact with the new leadership in so far as how that will play itself out. We pay tribute to Mr Maimane for his role in the course of the work we have done in managing these cooperations.”

The Freedom Front Plus says it is not surprised by the resignations.

“We saw it coming because of the high tension within the Democratic Alliance. It was quite clear from the start that there are differences in the vision for the future and policies of the Democratic Alliance.”

The African National Congress (ANC) says it will not concern itself with the developments in the DA.

“We have gone out and said that we are not going to make it our primary focus to be talking about what is happening in the Democratic Alliance, including what is now in the news – the resignation of the DA leader Mmusi Maimane, because we have always been watching some of these developments with keen interest,” says ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe.

South Africans have reacted on Twitter to the resignation of the DA leader.