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Given the events of the past week, many DA members and public representatives have been asking a raft of questions. Here are the answers to those most frequently asked.
1.Is the DA in crisis? If so, what kind of crisis?
No, the DA is not in crisis. We certainly face problems, but the resignations of our former leader, Mmusi Maimane, and our chairperson, Athol Trollip, are not the cause of our problems. They are the consequence. The fact that the DA applies the principle of leadership accountability shows that the party is robust and resilient, and able to address its problems
2.What are our problems and what caused them?
One of the main symptoms of our problems was that we were losing voter support across the board. Our former leader, Mmusi Maimane, courageously and correctly appointed a panel of experts to investigate what was going wrong, and why, and how to fix things. The full report can be read here, as well as the resolutions can be read here. The Federal Council accepted this report in principle. One of the main findings was that the leadership was not the right team to lead us out of the crisis. The report proposed the resignation of this leadership team, as a whole. This has now happened. We will be producing a separate summary of the report’s main findings and the resolutions of Federal Council to explain in detail what we are doing.
3.Why has this been mainly reported as a “race issue” in the media?
“Race” is the default response of almost all commentators because they cannot or will not analyse the issue more deeply. Anyone who has read the review panel’s report could not come to this conclusion. As a result of our election outcomes (and the review panel’s findings), and subsequent events, six people in leadership have resigned. Four are white men and two are black men. This alone shows how superficial the “race” analysis is.
4.So, what will the consequence of these resignations be?
The party has definitely taken a knock. We will have to work very hard to regain lost ground. But we have faced far worse crises before. Leaders have left in unusual circumstances (such as Van Zyl Slabbert and Marthinus van Schalkwyk). On these occasions, analysts said these events would mean the end of us. This did not happen. Our split with the New National Party dragged on for a long time. In these, and other cases, it did take time to rebuild our support. But because we dealt with the root causes of our problems (and not merely the
symptoms) we were able to recover.
5.Will we become a Cape-based party again?
It is true, our governments in Gauteng, (particularly Johannesburg and Tshwane, where we have a governing arrangement with the EFF), are vulnerable. Arising out of the review panel report, we are doing opinion polls in these cities to test voters’ experience of service delivery and their general response towards our governing arrangements. Our next steps in these
cities will be determined by the outcome of these polls. Whatever this is, we will have to work hard to regain voter trust and support throughout the country.
6.So, what will happen next?
On 17 November, the Federal Council will meet in Johannesburg to choose an Interim leader, to lead us to an early Congress in the first half of 2020. We cannot yet say exactly when that Congress will be, because we first have to convene a policy conference, and consult the party on a new set of policies. This is a complex task that cannot be undertaken over the Christmas holiday season. We are currently working out all the logistics to set up an integrated timetable and will keep you informed.
7.What should our main message to our members and voters be?
The current challenges facing the party are not a crisis; they are also not a race issue. The core issue, according to the review panel, is a leadership problem and that is being resolved as quickly as our rules allow. The DA remains the only viable vehicle that has policies and skills capable of building “One South Africa for All”.