Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga shocked allies and opened cracks in the DA's so-called "black caucus" when he put his hand up to be chosen as his party's candidate for Gauteng premier, say party insiders.
Applications for the candidacy closed on Friday last week.
Until he applied, Msimanga had been seen as a staunch supporter of his longtime ally Makashule Gana, who has publicly campaigned for the slot on the ballot since April.
This week, party insiders said Gana had been shocked by Msimanga's application.
"He never told him about this. It was a late application," said a DA leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Msimanga "has not finished his term at Tshwane ... you wonder why he wants to leave so soon", the leader said.
Gana told the Sunday Times yesterday: "To be honest, I did not expect that he would apply to be a premier, especially if you consider that he is a mayor in a coalition government in Tshwane. But you get to accept ... you need to respect the rights of each and every member to stand.
"If it was up to me, I wouldn't have wanted to contest with him. Solly is like a brother to me, we have been in the trenches together."He confirmed that he met with Msimanga to speak about his candidacy.
"I am focused now on my campaign. I have expressed that if everything was up to me, I wouldn't wish to contest him, but now we are here."
Msimanga was a guest at Gana's campaign launch, a move that helped quash early rumours that the Tshwane mayor had his eye on the premiership candidacy.
Another DA leader said both Msimanga and Tshwane council speaker Katlego Mathebe's applications had raised eyebrows in the party.
"What are they running away from? Is there something they know about the municipality that we don't know?"
Msimanga declined to comment.
Mathebe said she had been thinking about being Gauteng premier back in 2013 when she was still a COPE member.
"I can't speak on behalf of the mayor ... I didn't know that he applied as well. Before it was announced, he knew that I have applied. [As for me], I am not running away from anything," she said.
Another DA insider said: "I think [Msimanga] is being pushed by the powers that be, because we have to win Gauteng in 2019 and he will be the best person, outside of Mmusi [Maimane] running. He is probably the best bet," said the insider.
The party insider said it was not clear who DA leader Maimane preferred as a candidate but he wanted someone who was going to win the province because the result would reflect on his legacy...