Zille pours oil on DA’s Mvenya crisis

A teary Helen Zille yesterday managed to persuade troubled Democratic Alliance Eastern Cape chairwoman Veliswa Mvenya to withdraw her resignation from the party.

Mvenya confirmed to the Daily Dispatch that she had changed her mind after Zille, over a lengthy phone call, pleaded with her to reconsider her decision.

Mvenya said: “I withdraw my resignation because I discovered that a lot of people were hurting as a result of my decision.

“I was persuaded by Helen to reconsider my decision. She called me and we spoke extensively about my decision. She, however, persuaded me to change my mind.”

Zille’s involvement is telling as it shows the power balance in the DA and demonstrates current leader Mmusi Maimane’s difficulty in rallying the party’s leadership core around his vision.

It also sends a message that Zille is still firmly in control of the party’s structures.

The Dispatch yesterday revealed that Mvenya tendered her resignation to the DA’s mayoral candidate and provincial leader Athol Trollip.

The resignation prompted panicked party bosses to call on Zille to intervene.

Mvenya said her neighbours had also played a significant role in changing her mind.

“ a group of poor community members whom I had helped recruit to the DA came to my house and persuaded me to change my decision.”

The Dispatch understands that her resignation was a result of her fallout with Trollip, who is also the DA’s Nelson Mandela Metro mayoral candidate.

At the centre of their differences is a Facebook post Mvenya made insinuating that some within the party were prepared to destroy her using money.

This followed a claim by a former DA member, Nontuthuzelo Jack, that Trollip had approached her to dig up dirt on Mvenya. Trollip has denied this and has also opened a criminal case against Jack.

Mvenya had written: “People are prepared to pay money to get information to use against me so as to get rid of me before the end of this month. God has exposed them.

“I know your plans and I am going nowhere.”

But a senior DA leader said that Mvenya’s resignation and the subsequent withdrawal had dented the party’s public image and its prospects of winning Mandela Bay.

“Whether she stays or not, her political career is over ... she will always be known as the woman who cost us Nelson Mandela Bay,” said the leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mvenya denied that her resignation was an attempt to attract public sympathy.

“I do have problems with some of the things in the party, but I cannot dwell much on those for now,” she said.

Neither Trollip or Zille could be reached for comment at the time of writing.