Could Maimane be SA’s Next President, Asks Newsweek

In a new article that exposes Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane to a world audience – calling him charismatic and saying he’s been dubbed “the Obama of Soweto” – Newsweek magazine posits the question in its headline: “Could Mmusi Maimane Be South Africa’s Next President?”

The article includes a video interview with Maimane during a visit to London, in which the DA leader says that the longer he is in politics the more admiration he has for Nelson Mandela.

Of Mandela’s many roles, he said, it was Mandela the president who’d had a “monumental tasK”, “to get poeple who effectively hated each other to come together”. He added, “You can’t help but draw inspiration of the possibility of a nonracial tomorrow.”

The magazine article goes into detail about how Maimane and the DA have repeatedly tried to have President Jacob Zuma removed from power, and explained the Nkandla ruling by the Constitutional Court. Maimane said he could see a change in government by the 2019 election.

“We want to be part of a form of national government, a government that sees change. It’s a project that I will give my life to, because I think it’s absolutely critical for South Africa,” Maimane told Newsweek journalist Connor Gaffey. “We’re on a race against time, and if the DA does not win that battle [against the ANC] sooner, later may not in fact come around. So we have to, with every resolute effort, ensure that there’s a change sooner in South Africa.”

Maimane, who is 36 and became leader of the DA barely a year ago, in May 2015, said that the African National Congress, in the words of former president Thabo Mbeki, had become “an ignoble parasitic organisation”. He spoke about the upcoming municipal elections and how crucial they will be.

“The polls will provide a barometer as to how much the ANC’s reputation has been damaged among the population as a result of multiple recent scandals surrounding President Jacob Zuma and could also provide indicators of the country’s mood ahead of the next general election in 2019,” Newsweek said.

Commenting on Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, Maimane said he was part of a wider, global populist backlash.

“It’s the idea that says, ‘The fundamentals don’t matter anymore.’ What’s difficult about that is that often it grabs headlines when people say the most absurd things,” he was quoted saying. “It’s all these outlandish extremes… To me, the danger is that if those populist ideals actually get through, they spell a disaster for South Africa.”

Referring to the racial tensions that have arisen over remarks by Penny Sparrow and the like in the past six months, Maimane said he believed that the racial tensions were heightened because the economy was so bad.

“South Africans don’t allow those individuals—whether it be Penny Sparrow, regardless of color—to represent all of South Africans,” he was quoted saying. “As those explosions have taken place on social media. People like to presume that must be the view of all South Africans. It’s not true. [But] there are some political parties who wish to exploit this in the context of an election year.”

To see the Newsweek video interview, click here.