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INLSA<\/p>\n
Diane Kohler Barnard<\/p>\n
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Dirty tricks and fierce contestation are characterising the DA\u2019s toughest internal election campaign in KwaZulu-Natal, and an internal investigation is to be launched into a smear campaign against provincial leader Sizwe Mchunu. <\/p>\n
The battle has even spilled into cyberspace, where senior MPs Diane Kohler Barnard and John Steenhuisen have thrown their weight behind certain candidates. <\/p>\n
Seventeen people are vying for six positions in what the party\u2019s provincial director, William Goldstone, has called the \u201cmost hotly contested DA elective congress ever\u201d. The battle also coincides with the biggest field of black DA politicians vying for key positions. <\/p>\n
The last round of leadership debates before Saturday\u2019s election ended in Pinetown last night. <\/p>\n
Kohler Barnard, who is firmly behind \u201cTeam Sizwe\u201d, took exception to Mchunu\u2019s being called a \u201cgatekeeper\u201d \u2013 a name for someone blocking the progression of others in politics. <\/p>\n
Mchunu and Greg Krumbock, the provincial chairman, are hoping to retain their positions. On Facebook, Kohler Barnard wrote that Mchunu \u201cspoke like a leader\u201d despite being attacked by his opponent, whom she called \u201cBeen Here for Five Months Ziba Jiyane\u201d. <\/p>\n
Jiyane, who is standing for the provincial leadership, and Haniff Hoosen, who is aiming for the chairmanship, are in one team. Jiyane broke away from the IFP, where he was secretary-general, to form the now-defunct Nadeco. Hoosen is secretary of the ID, which has joined forces with the DA. <\/p>\n
Mchunu conceded to The Mercury that the fight, which has seen the leaking of an e-mail criticising his leadership style, had left him depressed over the past two days because it was aimed at \u201ccompromising my integrity\u201d. He said that during the debates \u201cthere were instances where certain individuals skated on a very thin line\u201d. <\/p>\n
The public debates, in which each candidate was given five minutes to address DA members before the floor was opened to questions, have been described as \u201cvicious\u201d and \u201cvery ugly\u201d. <\/p>\n
One senior party leader said: \u201cIt has become a vicious battle. This contest is about the DA and not personalities, but some people want to keep it at (the personality) level.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jiyane acknowledged the campaigning had been \u201cvicious\u201d, with negative stories being planted. \u201cBut I\u2019m not involved in it because I\u2019m not privy to DA battles and secrets. We are trying very hard to keep it civil and not let it degenerate into name calling,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Jiyane and Hoosen have been accused of waging a public war against Mchunu and Krumbock. Jiyane wrote on Facebook: \u201cYou can\u2019t effect change by maintaining the status quo. If you keep doing the same things, YOU WILL GET THE SAME RESULTS. Let\u2019s do this together!!!!\u201d <\/p>\n
Kohler Barnard, who is also the DA\u2019s spokeswoman on police, is also contesting the election. Yesterday she wrote on Facebook: \u201cI\u2019m standing for deputy provincial chairperson. Please consider voting for me \u2013 then do!\u201d <\/p>\n
Steenhuisen posted a message saying some people were sanctimonious and perhaps should have stuck to their careers as they were not suited to politics. When asked what he meant, he wrote: \u201cIt was directed at people who have been writing nasty things on FB and who don\u2019t tolerate political competition. This is a clash of ideas, not a clash of personalities.\u201d <\/p>\n
The conference will be opened by DA leader Helen Zille\t8<\/strong>P10 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INLSA Diane Kohler Barnard Dirty tricks and fierce contestation are characterising the DA\u2019s toughest internal election campaign in KwaZulu-Natal, and an internal investigation is to be launched into a smear campaign against provincial leader Sizwe Mchunu. The battle has even spilled into cyberspace, where senior MPs Diane Kohler Barnard and John Steenhuisen have thrown their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-8947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}