Mike Waters, a former DA MP, has resigned from his post as the party election campaign manager in eastern Gauteng following its decision to apologise for the controversial posters it had put up in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal.
The posters said: ‘The ANC called you racist, the DA calls you heroes’ and referred to the unrest in July, when residents stood together to protect lives and property. There were claims that Indian vigilantes killed innocent black people in Phoenix during the unrest, but to date there has been no proof that this happened. The posters caused an outcry nevertheless.
In a letter sent to the party’s regional chairperson, as well as party leader, John Steenhuisen, and former leader, Helen Zille, Waters said he was ‘shocked and horrified’ by the ‘weakness’ displayed by the party.
He went on to say that while he remained a member of the party, he could not continue volunteering his services in the election campaign after such ‘spineless treachery’, lambasting the DA for bending to the ‘sanctimonious wokerati’.
Although the DA’s campaign seemed to have started off well it seems to have lost its way in recent weeks.
John Steenhuisen said last week that he had directed the City of Cape Town to release land currently used for golf courses for mixed-use development. The DA had to reverse its position on the matter although subsequently Steenhuisen said that his remarks had been taken out of context. Nevertheless, it is not clear what authority a party leader has to direct a city which the party governs to act in a certain way.
You can read Waters’s full letter below.
