/ 4 November 2011

DA’s ‘Verwoerdian’ rebel on the ropes

Complaints have been laid against MP Masizole Mnqasela who said Lindiwe Mazibuko lacked experience.

Democratic Alliance members have laid complaints against dissident party MP Masizole Mnqasela, alleging that he violated the code of conduct required during the campaign for the leadership of the party’s parliamentary caucus, the spokesperson for party leader Helen Zille confirmed on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Zille has compared him to Julius Malema, saying on social networking site Twitter: “Zuma has Malema, Zille has Mnqasela.”

DA members said the complaints could lead to Mnqasela’s suspension or even expulsion.

Zille’s political assistant, Shaun Moffitt, confirmed that a number of complaints had been laid, and said that the office of the federal executive and its chairperson, James Selfe, would investigate the matter.

Mnqasela told the Mail & Guardian that he was still hoping that Zille would apologise to him for denouncing his views as “Verwoerdian thinking” after he campaigned against Lindiwe Mazibuko as the party’s parliamentary leader, claiming she was not yet ready for the job.

The 30-year-old MP said that he found parallels drawn between him and former prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd “very disappointing”.

“I feel very aggrieved and hurt,” he said. “Helen Zille and I were close and shared meals at my home in Khayelitsha together. I take these matters very seriously.

“I represent the poor, starving and unemployed,” said Mnqasela. “Why would I be likened to a man who gave birth to apartheid and the Group Areas Act?”

‘Not black enough’
In her weekly newsletter last week, after Mazibuko had won the race against incumbent Athol Trollip, Zille launched a scathing attack on Mnqasela.

“Even in the DA, Verwoerdian thinking sometimes rears its ugly head,” Zille wrote. “Thus it was that Masizole Mnqasela, a DA MP, made a fool of himself and the party on prime-time radio by stating that Lindiwe Mazibuko was not black enough to become the DA’s parliamentary leader.”

Mnqasela said he wished to move forward in unity with the party and hoped for a meeting with Zille.

Zille had not responded to questions about whether she would apologise to Mnqasela as she was in meetings, said Moffitt. “It could take a while, as they will be investigating whether Mnqasela violated public representatives’ codes of conduct and the federal constitution.”

The ANC is now trying to woo Mnqasela back into its fold, but he is staying put in the DA.

“It was hypocritical to pretend race had no part in the DA’s parliamentary leadership battle,” he said, adding that if dissenting views were not allowed, the party could not grow.

Mnqasela campaigned for Trollip as he believed his vast experience would advance democracy in the DA, while Zille lobbied for Mazibuko.

Mazibuko said the caucus was now united and working together. “It is going incredibly well,” she said. “The person who is giving me tremendous assistance is Athol, who is the model of leadership.”

Mazibuko declined to comment on the spat between Zille and Mnqasela.

In a letter Mnqasela sent to the party before the election he said the way some in the party had approached the issue of diversity was inconsistent with the visions and objectives of the party and its philosophy of an open society for all.

“We are doing bean counting and sugarcoating by simply anointing those who are close and favourites to the senior leadership of the party in the name of diversity,” he wrote.

What upset Zille were statements he made in his letter, and on radio, that Mazibuko did not have a “strong resonance” with the black communities and electing her would not attract black votes. “We love Lindiwe to bits, but leadership needs much more than mere experience earned from the role of party spokesperson,” Mnqasela said in his letter. — Additional reporting by Andisiwe Makinana