Bruising battle for Eastern Cape DA

The DA in the Eastern Cape faces a bruising battle to find a replacement for provincial leader Athol Trollip.

Chairwoman Veliswa Mvenya will square off next month against the man regarded as Trollip's choice, newcomer Nqaba Bhanga, who is part of the former leader's Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral committee.

The contesting camps have been nicknamed the "A team" and the "V team" after the two leaders' first names.

Two other leaders seeking election at the party congress in East London next month are close to Trollip. Former campaign manager Andrew Whitfield will run for the chairman's job, and Bobby Stevenson, a long-serving member of the provincial legislature, will seek the deputy leadership.

Other candidates in the Mvenya camp have not been announced.

Pre-congress manoeuvring reached its climax last month when Mvenya rejected Trollip's offer of an uncontested election.

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DA insiders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trollip had proposed that if Whitfield ran unopposed Mvenya would be allowed to do the same.

He is said to have told Mvenya — also an MPL — that this offered her the "opportunity of a lifetime". When she rejected the offer, Trollip promised to "come hard" at Mvenya and her camp.

Trollip declined to comment, saying: "I never comment on internal party matters."

MPL Kobus Botha, Mvenya's campaign manager, said the two leaders had become incompatible and conciliation attempts by national leaders had failed. He said it was clear that Mvenya's 17-year track record outweighed Bhanga's.

"Nqaba Bhanga is cleverly being used as a disguise to distract and influence delegates in an attempt to hold on to party position power by various people around Athol Trollip," said Botha.

Bhanga confirmed the discussion between Trollip and Mvenya, saying he had been holding meetings with his rival since last year "to engage her on the future of the party".

He said he had approached Mvenya to try to unite the leadership and form the best team to prepare for the 2019 elections, at which the DA hopes to win the province from the ANC.

"When she refused to co-operate and work with everybody else, when she refused to have a dialogue for us to find a way ... of building a party, then I further said that I think the people of the Eastern Cape deserve better," he said.

Mvenya said she rejected Trollip's offer because she did not want to kill democracy in the DA.

"Negotiations would mean there is no point for us to go to congress," she said. She did not agree with individuals meeting behind the scenes to divide up leadership positions - "I wouldn't like the DA to take that direction."