Man who wants De Lille's old job attacks 'selfish' rivals for the DA crown

23 February 2017 - 18:40 By Aphiwe Deklerk
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Bonginkosi Madikizela. File photo
Bonginkosi Madikizela. File photo
Image: Gallo Images/Foto24

The acting DA leader in the Western Cape‚ Bonginkosi Madikizela‚ has attacked rivals for the post of interim provincial leader for forcing a vote.

Madikizela‚ the deputy provincial leader‚ took over as acting leader after Patricia de Lille resigned in January. He is one of five candidates aiming to be elected interim leader on Friday. A permanent replacement will be chosen at an elective conference in August.

Madikizela told TimesLIVE that the people who were running in Friday’s election were putting their interests ahead of the DA’s by forcing a vote rather than letting him act in the leader’s position for six months.

“If we are dealing with principle issues here‚ why should we even contest a position when we are going to congress six months from now?” said Madikizela.

“The reason why you are seeing all this jostling for positions is because certain individuals have their own interests‚ not the interests of the party."

He declined to identify the individuals but he was understood to be referring to Shaun August‚ the DA chief whip in the City of Cape Town‚ who is seen as his biggest opponent.

A battle between the two leaders has played itself out in the media‚ culminating in an announcement that the DA is investigating August and De Lille over a confidential report leaked to a newspaper.

The report referred to August’s role in a failure to follow proper procedures when procuring T-shirts during the local government elections campaign.

Asked if this had hampered his campaign‚ August said he was confident of the support he had in the province. "People know who Shaun August is. They know what I can do‚ they know what I have done in the 2014 elections and 2016 elections‚" he said.

He said he did not consider the other candidates as serious opposition‚ even though one of them‚ Lennit Max‚ is a seasoned politician.

Max said: "According to me this is an open contest in which anyone can come out as leader. The saying goes‚ ‘two dogs fight over a bone and the third walks away with it’. So the big talkers must be very careful."

TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

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