LISTEN | ‘Not in a million years': Lindiwe Mazibuko says she will never vote for John Steenhuisen as her councillor

22 October 2021 - 06:00
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Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko has hit out at the current party leader, saying that he lived in an echo chamber and surrounded himself with yes men. File photo.
Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko has hit out at the current party leader, saying that he lived in an echo chamber and surrounded himself with yes men. File photo.
Image: KEVIN SUTHERLAND

Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko says she would never vote for current party leader John Steenhuisen if he ran for a councillor position in her ward.

Listen to her view here: 

Mazibuko said Steenhuisen, the leader of SA’s official opposition, lives “in an echo chamber” and surrounds himself with “yes men”.  The columnist was a guest on media personality Eusebius McKaiser’s TimesLIVE podcast.

McKaiser asked Mazibuko if she would vote for Steenhuisen if he ran in her ward, and her response was an emphatic “no”.

“Not in a million years,” she said.

To listen to the full podcast, click on the link below:

“I think [that] as he has acquired power, he has lost the ability to self-reflect,” said Mazibuko. “I think that for some people, the more power they amass and the higher they rise, the more important for them to surround themselves with 'yes men'. You need leaders who have the opposite instinct.”

She described the vibrant DA leader as “someone who lives in an echo chamber and does not let in people with contrary views and I say this not out of knowledge or inside knowledge of any kind. It’s just that the evidence is clear.”

Mazibuko said she and Steenhuizen used to be good friends. She was elected the DA’s parliamentary leader and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly in 2011. She led the party’s parliamentary caucus until her resignation in 2014 to further her studies at Harvard University in the US.

TimesLIVE


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