Xed out: The plan by the Democratic Alliance’s Cilliers Brink for the Tshwane metro election has backfired. Photo: Deon Raath/Gallo Images
Thursday.
The numbers appear again to have no numbers for the Democratic Alliance (DA) – or at least for the 69 councilors in the Tshwane metropolitan council.
The party’s decision to have councilors vote – instead of just making Xs next to ActionSA chief Kholofelo Morodi – to prevent them from voting for the other side, did not sit well with caucus leader Cilliers Brink. hope
Instead of getting Morodi over the line, the DA’s master plan to enforce the loyalty of the councilors resulted in his vote being deemed broken and Mncedi Ndzwanana, of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), taking over as speaker in Tshwane.
Brink’s “strategic decision” on how to replace the Murunwa Makwarela People’s Congress, whose degree in typography earned him the boot – and potentially a few years in an orange onesie – has yet to achieve the desired results.
The South African Electoral Commission found that the DA’s number game compromised the confidentiality of the ballots, declared the votes falsified and named Ndzwanana as speaker by a margin of 105 votes to 37.
The DA contingent stormed out of the council sitting in a huff after getting the results, appalled to find that the state election law applies to everybody – even them.
After a lot of tweeting, bleating and chest-beating – the political demand to talk to the manager – DA has, we are told, accepted that they can not Karen way to the speaker’s office in Tshwane.
Fair enough.
Brink’s caucus colleagues couldn’t be happier, not just with the results but with the level of trust in their leaders, or the sudden realization that the word democratic in the Democratic Alliance does not reflect the way they do business.
Voters can’t be too impressed either, as they themselves managed to make their mark in November 2021, only to find that their elected representatives lacked the ability to do the same.
No matter how party leaders spin, there is no one to blame but the DA for getting zero for the ballot – and ATM speakers – in Tshwane this week.
again.
One wonders if Brink came up with a plan to keep councilors in line and give a vote to the other side by themselves, or what is called in the brain of the party’s trust?
Perhaps they think this is all because of solitude, without the supervision of adults.
However, the idea of forcing councilors to sign a paper with a number assigned to them, to enforce the leader’s will instead of trusting that they are doing the right thing, has a Zilleresque feel.
As chairwoman of the DA’s federal council, Helen is at the center of the party’s coalition discussions at the municipal level, so my money is on Babes wa Colonialism calling for a move from above – or at least giving it the green light.
One wonders if the DA will continue with the mark-of-the-beast approach when holding the federal congress next month, just to make sure no one strays and votes inappropriately?
If the party can’t trust its councilors – self-elected leaders who have gone through all kinds of internal vetting processes – to vote unsupervised, how can they trust rank-and-file delegates to vote in their own internal elections without Helen showing up. over his shoulder?
It is no surprise that Helen has an appetite for a second term as federal council chairman, having served two previous terms as party leader – and a brief spell in political exile during Mmusi Maimane’s tenure.
Zille has turned the clock on the DA since 2019 – the evil West Coast Donald Trump in a blue skipa with a thirst for payback and a point to prove – so there will be no stopping as long as the party has members and voters. isolate.
Make the DA Great again.
Zille had stood uncontested, until party member Lungile Phenyane emerged from obscurity and secured the nomination to challenge the former Western Cape premier.
This is a David-versus-Goliath scenario.
Zille has left a trail of famous political corpses over the years, but Phenyane appears poised, having also secured the nomination to challenge party leader John Steenhuisen.
If the number is not Pyongyang’s number in one of the posts, he is still in the game.
Phenyane has been nominated as federal chairman, federal deputy chairman, federal finance chairman and federal council deputy chairman.
A six above all, in one human.