Maimane's valedictory speech as leaderless DA also lose Trollip

When the Democratic Alliance did not perform as expected in the May 2019 elections; the party was looking for somebody to blame. The party lost supporters to the Freedom Front Plus and could not grow their support among urban blacks ending 2% down from its 2014 results. The spotlight was on leader Mmusi Maimane, who some in the DA believed moved closer to ANC policies supporting affirmative action and land restitution, away from their liberal democratic values. The pressure on Maimane increased when Hellen Zille was appointed as the Federal Chair of the DA. Zille’s return resulted in the resignation of Johannesburg mayor, Herman Mashaba. It seemed only a matter of time before Maimane would be the next one to go. And after keeping the media waiting for a couple of hours, Maimane emerged to announce that he was quitting as leader. His resignation had a domino effect with Athol Trollip, the former mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay and the party chairperson who put himself up for the position of the Fedex Chair but lost to Zille, announcing shortly after that he was also quitting. The DA finds itself in a difficult position as the party chairperson normally takes over the leadership of the party while a new leader is elected. But as Trollip, the party chairperson also resigned, the DA is now leaderless. It will hold a special meeting of its federal executive council tomorrow to decide on the way forward. - Linda van Tilburg