OPPOSITION POLITICS
TONY LEON: Spectre of past returns to haunt DA with race narrative about De Lille
The fiasco around the rapid ousting of Cape Town mayor Peter Marais 17 years ago also differs from the damaging drawn-out imbroglio
The DA is in turmoil. The party leadership attempts to fire its Cape Town mayor, who is both coloured and a populist, though also someone who has migrated across the party political map. The proximate causes for the party move against the mayor and the termination of her DA membership are varied: alleged maladministration, caucus disunity and tarnishing the party image. Notwithstanding the "charge sheet", the DA leadership offers the mayor a "soft landing" in another seat. The mayor contests the termination and launches an urgent application against the party in the High Court in Cape Town, citing procedural unfairness. Meanwhile, strategic leaks from the DA parliamentary caucus suggest the party is adrift — divided on strategy, infirm on tactics and ideologically at war with itself. Demonstrators outside the court hold placards stating that the mayor is the victim of a "baas" mentality pervasive in the upper reaches of the party. In 2001, when I was party leader, the above snapshot...
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