MP slams Zille in open letter

Rebellious DA MP Masizole Mnqasela has once again challenged party leader Helen Zille, this time labelling her a dictator bent on silencing dissenting voices in the party.

Mnqasela is to face charges at a disciplinary hearing in parliament on Thursday, stemming from his vociferous opposition to party rising star Lindiwe Mazibuko's campaign late last year for the position of party parliamentary leader. In a letter addressed to Zille, which the Sunday Times has obtained, Mnqasela once again slammed Zille's support for Mazibuko during the heated leadership race.

"An endorsement of a candidate by a leader ... does not level the playing field and is reminiscent of many leaders who have been certified as having dictatorial tendencies," he said.

Mnqasela landed himself in hot water when he publicly criticised Mazibuko, saying she was "not black enough" and was too inexperienced to lead the DA caucus.

Zille, who supported Mazibuko, hit back by accusing Mnqasela of thinking like Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid.

In his letter, Mnqasela said he was deeply offended to be compared to Verwoerd.

The outspoken MP - who risks being expelled from the party - has remained defiant. He has now accused those who drew up the charges against him of an orchestrated campaign to stop him from contesting leadership positions in future.

Mazibuko defeated Athol Trollip, for whom Mnqasela fiercely campaigned.

Mnqasela, who faced a rape trial and was acquitted, contends that the internal party charges he is facing were trumped up by elements within the DA leadership .

"I wish to bring to your individual attention that I am of the strong conviction that these charges are a basket of a wish-list, determined by those who crafted them, to terminate democratic political activity within the DA," the open letter reads.

"I equally believe that they are designed to silence any contestation for positions [the basic tenet of democracy] in the future, within a party that is aptly named after this grand institution of the political system."

Mnqasela said he was also surprised that the charges he faced included allegations that he tried to influence a tender in the Western Cape provincial government in 2009. He questioned why it was being raised now when the alleged charge dated as far back as 2009.

He reminded Zille, whom he addresses as Mhlobam (Xhosa for "my friend"), of the glowing testimonial she penned in his defence during his rape trial in July last year.

"I still need to be convinced that if the DA had not occupied the palaces of power in ... the Western Cape, which gave birth to the twins called power and patronage, your opinion of me would have remained as stated in that July 31 edition of SA Today.

"This development has also born a climate of paranoia, intolerance of dissent, an insatiable appetite for centralisation of power and control, wherein all those with divergent views are perceived as enemies worthy of extinction."

Pierre-Charl du Preez, Zille's spokesman, said the DA leader had nothing to say about Mnqasela's letter.

In another development within the DA, national spokesman Mmusi Maimane on Friday withdrew from the contest for the Gauteng leadership, saying he wanted to focus on his spokesman position and his role of leading the DA caucus in the Johannesburg Metro Council. MP Ian Ollis and Gauteng MPL John Moodey are to challenge each other for the position at the provincial congress in March.