MBOMBELA – Mr Anthony Benadie, former leader of the DA in Mpumalanga, has again withdrawn from politics.
He announced his withdrawal from possible candidacy to contest positions in the forthcoming local government elections on Friday.
This follows barely a year after he announced that he was taking a sabbatical from politics after serving as the party’s provincial leader for eight years.
He was not elected to a position in the national leadership in May and declined the opportunity to represent the party in the national assembly in Cape Town, wanting to remain in Mpumalanga full time for the sake of his young family.
Benadie has since opened a restaurant in his hometown of Middelburg.
In January he indicated that he had applied to represent the party in the local government elections in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality and Nkangala District Municipality.
However, he has now written to the national leadership and colleagues in the province informing them of his withdrawal “over things that have been happening”.
“I don’t want to wash our laundry in public. It is an internal party matter.”
He would say the alleged racial incident at his restaurant, of which news broke last week, was a result of members of his own party attempting to derail his campaign, and it was the final straw which led to his decision.
“I have been left unhappy with a range of things that has been happening,” he said on Monday.
Benadie will remain a party member and a future return to politics is not out of the question. “Only time can tell.”
The DA’s provincial leader Mr James Masango said he could not speak on Benadie’s behalf, but said there was no vendetta being driven against him in the province.
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