Emboldened by Helen Zille's stunning return to power this week, supporters of the DA's new federal council chair are planning a clean sweep of the party's most powerful positions - and they're all white.
The party was shaken to its foundations this week by the surprise resignation of two of its most powerful black figures, party leader Mmusi Maimane and Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba. Both leaders blamed the party's failure to embrace racial diversity as reasons for leaving.
Their departure coincides with a growing feeling in the DA's upper echelons that its expensive efforts to lure black voters have largely failed.
Specifically, it was Maimane's views on race that saw him fall out of favour with the DA's "liberal" old guard.
After more than four years of trying to get the DA to reflect SA's racial demographics, Maimane threw in the towel, complaining that the DA "is not the vehicle best suited to take forward the vision of building one South Africa for all".
In his resignation speech, he said: "We took active steps to remove the obstacles to greater diversity, and to expand opportunities, particularly for young black candidates and activists within the party. In doing so, we were always clear: the emancipation of black people is not the enslavement of white people. It is not an either/or.
"In internal elections and our list process, I advocated for more black South Africans, more women, and for greater language and cultural diversity. This was not picking one race or gender over another. Rather, it was aiding the journey towards a truly diverse party."
Mashaba agreed that the return of Zille marked a shift in the party's race profile.
Zille looked on grimly this week as Maimane laid bare tensions in the DA. Asked whether she was the Terminator - a reference to the movie cyborg sent back in time on a top-secret mission, she replied that she was the "Zillenator".
While the DA attempted to put a positive spin on the departure of two of its most prominent black members, critics will make much of the fact that the new leaders will all be white, and all thought to be close to Zille.
According to insiders, they plan to take control of the DA and its caucus.
The first part of the plan fell into place yesterday when former chief whip John Steenhuisen was announced as parliamentary leader, after he was the only candidate nominated by Friday night. This puts him in pole position for the post of interim party leader.
Feisty MP Natasha Mazzone is set to be appointed chief whip, while MP Geordin Hill-Lewis is being tipped as the future CEO of the party.
The Zille takeover plan was revealed by well-placed DA MPs involved in the horse-trading under way in the party amid a crisis that had left it leaderless in four top posts after Maimane and federal chair Athol Trollip quit.
The first part of the plan fell into place yesterday when former chief whip John Steenhuisen was announced as parliamentary leader
The DA now has no full-time national leader, chief whip or federal chair.
Steenhuisen had to vacate his position following Maimane's exit because he was appointed by him and not directly elected to the DA's second-most powerful position in parliament.
Now it seems his fortunes have turned, as MPs close to Zille saw Steenhuisen as the
obvious successor to Maimane in parliament. Zille-aligned MPs said Steenhuisen was also a strong contender to replace Maimane as interim leader at a special federal council meeting in mid-November.
Insiders said this would give Steenhuisen a platform to consolidate his support base ahead of an early national congress in April next year, at which a party leader would be elected.
Mazzone, the deputy chair of the DA federal council, is expected to be appointed by Steenhuisen as chief whip.
She said yesterday: "If I am considered, I would be deeply honoured. I would, however, never dare to make assumptions and we do not yet know who the nominees for leader are. Just hearing my name mentioned is an extreme honour."
Hill-Lewis, who has served as chief of staff for Zille and Maimane, said there was strong support for Steenhuisen in the 84-member caucus.
"John has aggression, spine, clear beliefs and values, and a razor-sharp intellect," said Hill-Lewis, who declined to comment on the prospect of himself taking over as CEO after the resignation of Paul Boughey.
Steenhuisen, before the announcement that he was to be the new parliamentary leader, had been expected to go head to head with either KwaZulu-Natal leader Zwakele Mncwango, Gauteng leader John Moodey or Ivan Meyer.
Mncwango confirmed he had been approached to make himself available for Maimane's position. He said he would make up his mind only once the party settled its policy direction.
"We must go to policy conference before congress because we will fall into the trap of electing a leader with no mandate. I believe determining policy direction before congress will make us understand where individuals stand on such issues," he said.
Moodey said: "I have been approached by various people, some asking me to stand for mayor [of Johannesburg], others asking me to stand for federal chair and others asking me to stand for federal leader, and I am considering all of them."
Meyer, who is the Western Cape MEC for agriculture, is being lobbied by DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela to take over from Maimane.
Madikizela said Meyer is the right man for the job.
Madikizela said he had turned down a request to make himself available for it.
Several DA leaders who were regarded as Maimane's close allies distanced themselves from talk of mass resignations to follow their former leader.
Mncwango, Moodey, Madikizela and Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga said they had no intention to resign.
Northern Cape leader Andrew Louw said he was firmly behind Zille and he supported the choice of Steenhuisen as parliamentary leader.
"I am 100% happy with my constituency in Northern Cape and I am happy with Helen Zille, so that is my position.
"As far as the parliamentary leader would be concerned, I think John will be able to do a successful job," Louw said.
Should the plan by Zille allies succeed, it would see the DA's front-benches in the National Assembly turn all white, a situation that Maimane worked hard to reverse.
But a DA MP who is part of those aligned with Zille said the focus for now is on strengthening the party ahead of the 2021 municipal elections and not racial composition of leadership.
"People are saying we've tried pushing the black faces to the front and it hasn't worked. Let's keep the party stabilised. Let's get it right.
"Let's go to 2021 and keep as many councillors as we have," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The MP credited Steenhuisen with the competent performance of the DA's parliamentary caucus.
Sources said Maimane clashed with mostly senior white MPs and other party leaders in the run-up to the DA's national congress in April last year amid a discussion on race and diversity.
An MP said Maimane's previous statements on white privilege did not sit well with his white colleagues.
"That came out of nowhere. People said if that is going to be the position of the party, then own it, but then immediately after that, he started backtracking."
The MP said Maimane was wrong to think that "in order to win the black vote, you had to show black voters that you are opposed to this idea of white privilege".
It has also emerged that there was unhappiness in the DA that "hundreds of millions of rands" spent on increasing black votes had failed to yield the desired results.
"We have never been more embracing of black voters but we haven't grown any black supporters.
"There is no black increase despite the hundreds of millions, if not billions, we have spent.
"If you look at some of our black and Indian colleagues in parliament, some have been here for 15 years and in every election cycle they rely on being promoted and are pushed up the list."
The MPs said municipal councillors who were worried about their jobs ahead of the municipal elections in 2021, given the DA's poor showing in recent by-elections, were happy that Zille is back.
There is no black increase despite the hundreds of millions, if not billions, we have spent
MPs said most DA councillors and activists believe she would help stem the tide.
"We see a 30% slide in votes in the by-elections, we have lost one out of three by-elections, and eight wards were lost to the ANC and not to the Freedom Front Plus.
"The party needs someone who can stem the tide of losses and we can't keep implementing the status quo.
"There is a collective sigh of relief amongst councillors and activists who are electable hopefuls in 2021 that at least there is going to be some structure and leadership that is going to come back to the party."
Unlike some black leaders in the DA who are unhappy about Zille, Free State provincial leader Patricia Kopane said she welcomed her election.
"Helen was democratically elected, people must not make it seem like she was just pushed there on Sunday," she said.
"All of us, those who voted for her or not, we are going to stand behind her and make sure that she succeeds," said Kopane.
Political analyst Dr Somadoda Fikeni said the appointments went against the experiment that Zille started, which she has stated that she now regrets, of going all out to recruit blacks.
"Mmusi could articulate [the transformation of the DA] because he believed Helen meant every word of what she was saying, in building an inclusive, racially diverse DA," said Fikeni.
He said Zille had reversed the project. "The signal it sends, frankly speaking, is that the party that used to be white is retracting to that particular space and they might even be regretting the experiment," he said.
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