Durban - Zwakele Mncwango, the outgoing DA chief whip in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, says he has quit because of the party’s leader, John Steenhuisen.
Mncwango claimed that Steenhuisen had blocked him and others on the party’s mobile communications Whatsapp group because they did not support his leadership campaign in the build-up to the conference in which Steenhuisen was elected as the leader.
Mncwango announced his resignation from the legislature this week, effective October 15 and resigned as DA member on Saturday. In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, Mncwango laid bare the challenges he faced within the party under Steenhuisen’s leadership.
He said he was unhappy with the direction the party was taking, particularly, with regard to listening to opposing views to that of leaders. Mncwango said there was a culture of fear to speak out, saying members would be threatened with disciplinary action should they do so. He maintained there was no bad blood between him and Steenhuisen, but they differed in their views. However, he accused the leader of distancing himself from those who did not support him in the elective conference.
Mncwango claimed Steenhuisen blocked him and other members who openly supported Mbali Ntuli who was contesting the DA leader position against Steenhuisen in 2020. Ntuli has since resigned from the DA. She was among several black leaders who have left the party in recent years, citing similar reasons to the one raised by Mncwango.
In August, Makashule Gana, a DA MPL in Gauteng, resigned from the party. He followed Phumzile van Damme, Mmusi Maimane, Herman Mashaba, John Moodey and Bongani Baloyi, among others. Mncwango said resigning from the legislature would give him time to reflect on whether he would continue to serve under the DA.
“I’m withdrawing a salary every month which makes me conflicted when I think about the party. I’m allowing myself to do self introspection, I will be in a space where I can be free. When you earn a salary you will always be conflicted because even when you are not happy you get consolation from the fact that there is financial gain,” he said.
Mncwango was concerned about how the party handled the exodus of leaders, saying the leaders had never attempted to find out why so many people had decided to leave. He said disgruntled members would opt to keep quiet, fearing reprisal. He said there was no room for opposing views and some members were isolated.
He was particularly unhappy with the lack of democracy advancement, adding that he would rather stay at home if he was not allowed to make an input. While Steenhuisen was his KZN fellow, Mncwango said he could not recall speaking to him since he was elected as party leader in 2020. “As a politician, I do not take contestation personally. At some point, I supported James Selfe as opposed to Mmusi Maimane for leadership.
That did not mean I had a problem with Mmusi. It’s about the views that you have and post-conference we reunite as fellow members. “Steenhuisen blocked most of us who supported Mbali openly. We did not have an issue with him, but we did not believe in his leadership at the time. I was expecting the organisation to engage me on my decision but no one bothered.
Mbali left and there was no intervention. “That makes me wonder how the organisation that fails to take care of its own members will be caring for the society,” he said.
Responding to the claims, Steenhuisen denied having blocked anybody on WhatsApp.
He said he had spoken many times to Mncwango during visits to KZN and party engagements as the leader with the KZN caucus and provincial executive and provincial council.
“Supporters and members of Ntuli’s campaign team are members of my shadow cabinet and occupy various leadership and other positions.
I have an excellent relationship with all of them and I am sure they can attest to the same.
“If Mncwango had such strong feelings, then why has he not once raised these issues in a PEC or federal council meeting or FedEx meeting or any formal structure of the party? It’s odd that he now raises concerns that he never raised a single time in any party structure,” Steenhuisen said.
With regard to creating a culture of fear, he said the disciplinary proceedings were managed independently by an independent body called the federal legal commission. “This is done precisely to avoid abuses of disciplinary processes. The claim that people are ‘threatened with disciplinary action’ is therefore patently false,” he added.
Announcing Mncwango resignation from the party, Francois Rodgers said they now understand that he would take up the position of ActionSA chairperson in KZN before the end of October, which was his plan since he announced his first resignation earlier this week.
“The DA believes that Zwakele has been planning his departure to ActionSA for the last month. Therefore, we feel he needs to come clean with the public and his new party as to why he saw it fit to enjoy the perks of his office in the Legislature, at the pleasure of the DA, while planning his departure to his new political party.
These perks included an overseas trip in the last month to Norway and Uganda which cost taxpayers roughly R150 000. Surely if he had such misgivings about the DA, he should have resigned from the party before he enjoyed this costly trip.
“That Zwakele would attempt to use the “cease and desist” letter he received yesterday from the Federal Executive, after he made a number of allegations against the party without ever raising them in a formal structure of the party, can not go left unchallenged and is a fig leaf for his real reason to leave the DA, and that is to join ActionSA.
Whatever spin that he may try and put on his departure, it is important that the public know the truth behind his resignation,”said Rodgers.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE