WORLDVIEW: With the DA collapsing, can the centre hold?
Like the song says, it's all over but the crying. Mmusi Maimane announced on Thursday that he is leaving the DA and Parliament altogether, joining the likes of Herman Mashaba, Patricia de Lille, and Lindiwe Mazibuko as prominent party exiles. The DA is now effectively leaderless and, apparently, all at sea.
The move has created serious procedural challenges for the DA β in the absence of an official leader and, thanks to Athol Trollip's resignation, a chair, the DA is now technically leaderless and all its political appointments have been voided. The party will need a national congress to elect an all-new leadership.
But the problem is more than procedural. In fact, the whole political DNA of the DA is in flux. What happens next may see the hopes of a competitive centre in SA politics further diminished.
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