“Mmusi, A Thing Of The Past For The DA, No One Really Talks About Him”

As members of the Democratic Alliance prepare to vote for a new leader, Natasha Mazzone, the blue party’s former chief whip, reflected on the apparent exodus of black leaders.

Mazzone recognised the party had gone through harder times during an interview with veteran news anchor Iman Rapetti, in which he was asked about member morale since the departure of former leader Mmusi Maimane.

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“We had a horrible time because we had the resignation of our leader and very horrible circumstances,” said Mazzone.

Mazzone stated that following a period of harsh criticism and the departure of black leaders, the party was forced to form coalitions, which was unusual for them at the time.

“It [coalitions] was a completely new concept that South Africa was going into and it’s a concept that we are now accustomed to and know how to deal with, but at the time it was incredibly difficult,” admitted Mazzone.

She explained how some members felt “very let down,” and how current leader John Steenhuisen worked tirelessly to carry the party through those difficult years.

“We went from feeling extremely let down and despondent to feeling to really hopeful, seeing an amazing leader, leading us forward, being with us on the streets, going door to door with us, never having to worry about, ‘is the leader going to be with us, or is he going to be in his office.’”

When questioned if members still discuss Maimane, Mazzone responded that the former leader is no longer discussed in the party.

“I don’t think he’s really talked about anymore, he doesn’t really feature in the party ranks. He went his way, we went our way. He started his own movement and he does what he needs to do, we have our own party and our party chooses to move forward.”

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Mazzone indicated that the party had advanced quickly as a result of Steenhuisen’s leadership. Mazzone indicated that, despite taking a significant hit in the polls in 2019, she believes the DA was back on track by 2021.

“We are seeing an improvement, we are seeing the door to door interactions improving dramatically and we’re seeing just normal face to face interactions…people are happy to see us again.”

“There was a point where people were really sort of agitated, they were like ‘come Democratic Alliance’ you were the guys that weren’t always internally fighting you were the guys that had it together you were the organised party, we lost that and I think we got that back.”