Zille denies ‘purge’ in the DA amid mounting resignations

While the Democratic Alliance (DA) unpacked the outcomes of the weekend’s policy conference on Monday 7 September, the party, or rather Helen Zille, could not escape questions regarding the party’s former leaders like Mmusi Maimane and John Moodey. 

Moodey, who was the DA leader in Gauteng, resigned last week claiming that the Zille faction of the movement wanted to create a ‘new apartheid’ in South Africa. The party, in turn, said Moodey played the race card.  

Now the Federal Council Chairperson of the DA, Zille said there is no purge taking place within the party and there never will be. 

ZILLE CLAPS BACK OVER DA RESIGNATIONS 

Zille, during the zoom conference call, said she doesn’t know where the myth arises from that six out of nine provincial leaders are facing charges at the moment. 

“That is not true, one provincial leader is facing charges and that one person happens to be the one provincial leader who isn’t black. That is apart from John Moodey who was facing charges, some of the most serious charges that have ever come before the legal federal commission. He decided to leave and turn it into a race issue,” she said. 

“There isn’t a political party that deals with them more fairly than the DA,” added Zille. 

Zille went on to say that everybody is treated equally before the processes of the DA; “When a white person is charged in the DA we don’t talk about the purge, an exodus or anything, we have fair and due process and that applies to everybody. We don’t have political purges in the DA,” she said.  

Zille claimed that the Fed-ex, as well as herself, asked Mmusi not to resign but he did it anyway. 

“I can’t take decisions for people. John Moodey knew he was facing very serious charges which there was strong evidence, he chose to resign, he wasn’t purged. The entire Fed-ex asked Mmusi to stay but he chose to resign, he wasn’t purged ditto Herman Mashaba,” she said.

Mashaba, on 29 August, launched his new political party called Action SA. The party has promised to represent South Africans determined to see off a “broken political system”, as well as ” build a prosperous, non-racial and secure future for all its people”. 

Zille said there is no purge and there will never be a purge. She said black people, like white people, are allowed to make their own decisions. 

“Equally, if white people don’t get re-elected for example, in our selection processes for Parliament, we don’t hear people saying whites are being purged from the DA because these people didn’t get re-elected, it doesn’t work like that in the DA. We go on principle and not on somebody’s skin colour,” she said. 

“The media like to portray people as victims even though there are fair processes underway. We know what is fair,” she added. 

DA ADOPTS POLICY ON ECONOMIC JUSTICE 

On Sunday 6 September, the DA’s policy conference adopted a policy on Economic Justice based on its recognition that South Africa is still a fundamentally economically unjust society, where opportunities are not available to all, and poverty still limits the life chances of many. 

“The DA envisions a society where opportunity is broadly available to all, and where people have the capabilities to make use of them. We are still far from that point as a country,” it said in a statement. 

“This policy offers an alternative analysis of the challenge: instead of white monopoly capital as the obstacle to economic inclusion, we recognise that exclusion is driven by several socio-economic and governance challenges. These include an incapable state, poor education, lack of jobs, low savings and investments, inadequate public healthcare, high transport costs, lack of affordable housing, and unequal sharing of childcare responsibilities,” it added.