'Judas, keep my name out of your mouth,' Mmusi Maimane tells John Steenhuisen

Former DA leader, Mmusi Maimane has for the first time taken a swipe at his former long time ally and successor, John Steenhuisen.

In a surprising tweet on Saturday, Maimane called Steenhuisen “Judas Steenhuisen”, understood to mean he feels betrayed by his former chief whip.

'Judas' is understood to be a reference to the biblical Judas Iscariot, who is best known for having betrayed Jesus Christ.

This was the first time Maimane has taken a swipe at Steenhuisen since his shock resignation last year.

Steenhuisen was a long-time Maimane ally after he appointed him twice as the DA’s chief whip in parliament.

But on Saturday, Maimane posted a tweet in reply to a story quoting Steenhuisen criticising his former leader’s focus on bashing the ANC.

Maimane seemed to be riled up by the story.

“The previous administration was dismal. All opposition parties were critical of the ANC under Zuma. A key element of being leader of the opposition is to show the deficiencies in the ruling party. Judas Steenhuisen was in full agreement with our approach,” tweeted Maimane.

“Someone should tell Judas Steenhuisen to keep my name out of his mouth. It won’t end well for him. Just focus on your work and I will focus on my work. He must ask Cachalia.”

It is not yet clear who has riled Maimane up, but he continued bashing his former party.

“I have no focus on the DA and it’s current formation. I am focused on building an activist movement for all South Africans. We have classrooms to fix, jobs to create, justice to achieve and reforms to make. I am fully focused on this work. But let’s respect each other,” he added.