THE Democratic Alliance (DA) leadership race, due to end at the party’s elective conference in Port Elizabeth at the weekend, is being dogged by two controversies.Mmusi Maimane, considered by many to be the frontrunner, has endorsed a referendum on the death penalty — and the party has had to counter claims of sexual harassment targeting its leaders.Mr Maimane said in an interview he supported a referendum to decide on the reintroduction of the death penalty. However, he said he did not support the death penalty and did not believe South Africans would vote for the return of capital punishment.In 2008 President Jacob Zuma raised the prospect of a referendum on the death penalty after he was elected president of the African National Congress. He has since retreated from this view.On Tuesday Mr Maimane’s opponents expressed shock at his comments on the death penalty in a Sunday Times interview and in a television debate with his opponent, Wilmot James, on Monday.In the debate Mr Maima...
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