DA 'milk run for Mmusi'

14 April 2015 - 02:14 By Penwell Dlamini

Three DA leaders regarded as potential successors to party leader Helen Zille have ruled themselves out of the running. This paves the way for Mmusi Maimane to win the leadership of the party uncontested. In Gauteng DA leader John Moody has raised his hand to contest for the top position but he is unlikely to topple Maimane.Yesterday three senior DA members - Lindiwe Mazibuko, Patricia de Lille and John Steenhuisen - ruled out their participation in bidding for the top job at the party's congress next month.Zille announced her resignation at the weekend. Her successor will be elected on May 9.Zille, who has led the party since 2007, will remain premier of Western Cape until 2019.Mazibuko, who is currently studying abroad, said she would be following events at the congress but would not put her name in the hat."I wish to clarify that I will not be making myself available for election to any leadership at the DA's 2015 congress."I will be watching and supporting my friends, colleagues and fellow democrats from across the Atlantic," said Mazibuko.She quit her position as DA parliamentary leader in May last year to study at Havard University, in the US.Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said her political "focus was elsewhere"."Mayor de Lille is completely focused on the provincial leadership election taking place on Saturday and nothing has changed that focus," her spokesman, person Craig Kesson, saidin a reply.Another potential candidate who has declined to join the race is DA chief whip John Steenhuisen, who said he would support Maimane's candidacy.Maimane, however, has not declared whether he will contest for the position."It's something I've got to process, to think through."At 34, Maimane's rise through the ranks of the DA has been remarkable.Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said the DA had never been a mass-based political party with names emerging from the branches.Instead the party used a pre-arranged participation process. Fikeni said Maimane's election could unite segments of the party.The DA has extended nomination deadlines for all federal positions to April 24 at 5pm...

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