Tony Leon: The DA is in for a bloody nose

Tony Leon, the former leader of the DA, says that while the official opposition party will take a knock in the municipal elections in October, it is not all doom and gloom for the party.

According to Leon, the deep divisions within the ANC will ultimately be to the benefit of the DA.

“I have said to John Steenhuisen [DA leader] that it might be very unglamorous if the party only get 20% of the vote, but if the ANC starts dividing, that 20% could be very relevant. It could be the decision-maker about who lives and who dies,” says Leon.

The DA recently saw the departure of Phumzile van Damme as senior parliamentarian. This follows the resignation of the party’s Western Cape leader, Bonginkosi Madikizela, after a scandal about his qualifications.

Meanwhile, the rift in the ANC is getting bigger by the day as the party is trying to handle its hot potatoes in the form of Ace Magashule and former president Jacob Zuma.

Magashule, the suspended secretary-general of the party, and Zuma, both face corruption charges. Their cases have revealed deep factions within the party.

Leon says despite the ANC’s problems, it is ‘on course for a big victory’.

“The ANC will say all the right things and then we will have another five years of their disastrous misrule, despite the fact that the five best-run municipalities in the country are run by the DA,” says Leon.

He says the DA is being hurt by external as well as internal problems, but that the party has very competent officials and should not be counted out. “Nothing is inevitable,” he says.

“Look, the DA does not make the political weather in South Africa; they make some of the weather where they govern in their own little corner, but some of their problems are out of their control,” Leon told Izak du Plessis.

WATCH the interview here: