Cape Town – Former DA leader and current One SA movement leader Mmusi Maimane has hit back at his successor John Steenhuisen and told him to stop accusing him of being responsible for the decline of support of the party.
Maimane said Steenhuisen must focus on the party’s poor showing instead of putting blame on him as he left the party in better shape.
He said the numbers were there to show that there was no massive drop in support during his time.
“Keep my name out of it @jsteenhuisen. You made your bed, these results are on you,” wrote Maimane on Twitter.
Keep my name out of it @jsteenhuisen. You made your bed, these results are on you.
Mkhuzeni, mkhuzeni. Mbambeni, mbambeni. https://t.co/iSTvpnXQHz
He said during the 2016 local government elections the DA grew its support.
“In 2016 I delivered growth. That’s the bottom line. Numbers don’t lie, check the scoreboard,” Maimane told Steenhuisen.
Maimane, who left the DA in 2019 after he was blamed for the poor showing, said his track record speaks for itself.
Steenhuisen succeeded him as DA leader.
Maimane’s departure led to other leaders of the party including former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba to quit.
Mashaba went on to form ActionSA, which has also made inroads in the Joburg metro and other parts of the country where it was contesting the elections.
The DA has lost ground in some of the areas.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has said it would announce the results by Thursday.
The DA is lagging behind in Nelson Mandela Bay metro in the Eastern Cape. It was facing stiff competition in Gauteng metros where the contest with the ANC remained tight.
Political Bureau