'I will not consider running' - Winde after IRR calls for the premier to replace Maimane as DA leader
2 October 2019
The Institute for Race Relations (IRR) may be backing him to be the next DA leader, but Alan Winde says he will not consider running for the position.
"He has also conveyed that he has not and will not consider running," Winde's spokesperson, Bianca Capazorio, told News24.
The IRR has taken a lot of flak on Twitter from DA heavyweights after a questionable set of tweets on Tuesday, which apparently seeks to raise funds in support of a presumed leadership contest within the party.
The institute tweeted a link to an article, adding that ''The seed of the DA’s recovery has been planted by a white man in the Western Cape.''
"The seed of the DA’s recovery has been planted by a white man in the Western Cape.’ Alan Winde should be the new leader of the DA. Stand with the IRR at #JoinTheIRR."
DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen called the tweet ''low politics''
"The disgusting naked opportunism displayed by the IRR with this tweet is low-politics. The reference to race the antithesis of their mission. What are you going to use the money for? Influencing and paying off DA congress delegates and elected decision making bodies?"
DA MP Cameron MacKensie asked why the IRR doesn't stay out of DA politics.
"Why doesnt IRR stay out of DA internal politics? Isnt your mandate wider than creating divisions in the main opposition party? @MmusiMaimane elected to lead this party & lead it he will, regardless of the media deflection away from #cr17leaks #GavinWatson #NHI #zondo Focus please."
Steenhuisen also got into an exchange with the author of the article attached to the original tweet.
Why else would you attach a fundraising appeal on your opinion piece- very obviously looks like “if you want Winde as DA leader, give to the IRR” - why don’t you guys grow a set, register as a party and contest instead of this sniping and use of the DA to promote yourselves?A party statement, issued by Steenhuisen, says the party has rejected ''with contempt'' the ''naked opportunism'' displayed by the IRR with its ''latest missive''.
''The DA has noted the obsessive preoccupation that the IRR seems to have with the DA’s internal political and ideological conversations. This preoccupation has been increasing over the course of the last year or two.''
The statement continues that ''Given that the IRR has such strong opinions about the DA's leadership and internal debates, they are more than welcome to become members of the DA and exercise their membership rights to participate in the DA’s next Congress, at which the party’s leadership will be elected, instead of sniping from the side-lines and shamelessly piggy-backing their fundraising appeals on to it.
"Given their obsession with the DA, the other option for the IRR is to form their own political party and contest elections in its own name – rather than attempt to piggy-back on the DA’s successes in government, as it is currently trying to do while fronting as an NPO."
The fracas occurs in the context of what DA leader Mmusi Maimane has called a "smear campaign".
Two weeks ago the City Press reported that Maimane had declared a R4m house in the Cape Town suburb in a parliamentary register, despite the home never belonging to him.
In a separate article, the Sunday Times reported that Maimane was recently pushed hard by senior DA member of Parliament Mike Waters over the circumstances of his rental of a R4m home in Claremont, Cape Town.
It was also reported over the weekend that Maimane had driven around in a car that was a gift from former Steinhoff boss Markus Jooste.
On Sunday, Rapport revealed that Maimane used the white Toyota Fortuner from Jooste for months, after indicating that it would be returned.
Business Day reported on Wednesday that the The DA has prioritised a probe into the allegations around Maimane's car and house after he called for it.
Acting federal chair Thomas Walters said that the party's internal finance committee, tasked with the probe, would conduct a fact check regarding Maimane's resources and go to the federal executive if there was anything to report.
