National DA leader John Steehuisen has come to the defence of Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille amid the party losing some of its most senior members of colour.
According to Steenhuisen, some black leaders within the party are not honest enough when leaving the party to admit that they often face grim prospects of being re-elected to their position before leaving the party.
He made this comment on Friday night during his appearance on a show called The Last Word hosted by Shahan Ramkissoon on eNCA.
Steenhuisen was asked whether or not he was worried to see black leaders leaving the party?
He indicated that he was of course not happy as no political party would be pleased to see its members leaving.
“It’s very easy to scapegoat Helen Zille… we have someone who left recently and she said she could not work with Helen Zille, (yet) Helen Zille hasn’t worked a day with this individual in any shape or form,” he said.
He added: “A lot of people scapegoat her because she is the tall tree, when they leave they don’t wanna talk about the disciplinary enquiries they are facing or the fact that their re-election prospects are very poor.”
Steenhuisen continued: “Of course, you don’t want to see people leaving the party but it’s the natural flow in politics, people come people go. We have got many more joining than leaving, this nonsense about no space for black leaders is a complete fabrication. The Democratic Alliance has the first black female chief whip in the National Assembly.”
Asked about claims that the DA is cleansing itself and wants to focus on being a white party, he said that is not true as doing that would be suicidal.
He added that as they go to the 2024 provincial and national elections, they are targeting South Africans of all races and all those who have been shunning the voting process in the past.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
IOL Politics