OBAMA OF SOWETO: Mmusi Maimane took 88.9% of the votes in the DA's leadership election in Port Elizabeth yesterday
Image by: AFP
Image by: AFP
Mmusi Maimane, who ran the DA's most expensive internal election campaign in its history, is ready for action.
As ecstatic Maimane supporters cheered his election as the party's first black leader at Port Elizabeth's Boardwalk Convention Centre yesterday, he promised President Jacob Zuma that he would get the day in court that he had repeatedly said he sought .
"President Zuma, if you are watching, we are still coming for you. Make no mistake, Mr President, you will have your day in court, which you have been asking for," he told the crowd of nearly 1500 at the DA congress.
He set retaining DA rule in Cape Town, unseating the ANC in Pretoria and Port Elizabeth, running the ruling party close in Johannesburg, and winning as many smaller centres as possible, as the party's main goals for next year's local government elections.
"I want to be able to tell the president in parliament next year: 'Your office is in a municipality (Tshwane) which the DA governs, and the metro named after our icon (Nelson Mandela Bay) is in DA hands'."
Maimane, dubbed the "Obama of Soweto", took 88.9% of the DA delegates' votes to trounce his opponent, Wilmot James.
Maimane laid down the law.
"Racists and homophobes must find another party to join. There is no space for you in the DA."
Committing himself to non-racialism, he said that did not mean being colour-blind. He said race was still a proxy for poverty in South Africa.
"The influence of apartheid continues. I do not agree with those who do not see colour. If you do not see me as black, you do not see me at all," he said.
But political analysts have warned Maimane that he faces a tough time ahead.
Analyst Mzoxolo Mpolase said Maimane would be a mere figurehead unless he could trigger debates about redress.
"His failure or success will be judged on whether he is able to spark a debate about the need to address serious issues, including race, and whether he is able to cause the DA to gravitate towards a position in which the party actually deals with such realities.
"He is yet to come into his own as leader in parliament, but that may now be made easier because he occupies the positions of both party leader and leader of the party in parliament."
Professor Andre Duvenhage, of North West University, believes Maimane's election might expose his lack of experience in dealing with political challenges, especially in a political discourse that is increasingly about identity.
"At the moment, South African politics is in a phase of polarisation. I am not sure that Maimane can attract black support to the DA without ultimately losing white, coloured and Indian voters."
After walking onto the stage at the Port Elizabeth congress as the newly declared leader of the party, he asked a stage manager: "How does one prepare for such a moment?"
"You can't!" was the response.
One of his toughest challenges to date has been dealing with the recent "DA sex scandal", which he described as "chilling".
"There is nothing more chilling than picking up a newspaper and reading things about yourself that are completely false.
"To accuse me of having hit on staff, while in fact many of my staff have been males, and secondly, all the staff I have worked with cam
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