POLITRICKING | 'She’s not going to be the boss': Former DA chief whip on Tshwane’s new mayor Nasiphi Moya
The former politician is this week's guest on 'Politricking with Tshidi Madia', where he discusses ActionSA and the ANC, John Steenhuisen and the GNU.
Former DA chief whip Douglas Gibson. Picture: Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - As Dr Nasiphi Moya takes up the mayorship of Tshwane, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) former chief whip, Douglas Gibson, has already written her off, saying while she’s "competent," she will not manage to successfully lead the country’s capital city.
Moya beat the DA’s mayoral candidate and her predecessor, Cilliers Brink, on Wednesday, making history by becoming ActionSA’s first mayor.
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The gamble by Moya’s party saw ActionSA parting ways with the DA, collapsing a coalition agreement that’s been in place in Tshwane since the 2021 local government elections.
This follows a newly formed relationship between businessman-turned-politician Herman Mashaba’s outfit and the African National Congress (ANC). The partnership also saw a co-governing deal reconfigure government in Johannesburg in August.
"She is going to do what the ANC and EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] tell her to do, she’s not going to be the boss," insists Gibson.
Gibson was in the studio this week, on Politricking with Tshidi Madia.
He discussed the Government of National Unity (GNU) coalition, as well as his thoughts on various leaders in the DA, past and present.
The former ambassador and parliamentary chief whip reserved most of his criticism for Mashaba and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
"Mr Herman Mashaba had his toes trampled on or something and he wasn’t going to be insulted and so on, so he pulled his people out of a working coalition and has been dancing around with the ANC, embracing Mr Panyaza Lesufi and the EFF," said Douglas.
He insists the ActionSA founder and leader will be punished for this move in the 2026 local government polls, as he dismissed remarks Mashaba and several others have made about the difficulty of working with the DA.
He praised the blue party’s federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, who has drawn much public disapproval over her suspected role in power-sharing talks. ANC leaders have suggested she’s attempted to bully the party, while Mashaba has complained of the DA wanting to use smaller parties to prop itself up in the coalitions it sets up.
"Helen is Helen, she’s elected by a huge majority in the party to the position which she fills at the moment and she will be up for election soon when there is a congress, and they’ll either re-elect her or not," says Gibson.
Speaking fondly of their relationship, he says he continues to like and support the DA’s federal council chair.
"When she was the leader, I backed her 100%, and I think she’s doing a good job as chair of the federal council, more particularly in that John Steenhuisen is now a minister," he added.
While the former ambassador also lauds Steenhuisen for his role in the formation of the GNU which Gibson believes could easily make it to the end of this administration, he admits the minister fumbled on the appointment of his chief of staff, Roman Cabanac.
Gibson claimed no one in the DA knew the controversial former politician, who is now refusing to resign from the Department of Agriculture, and has forced Steenhuisen to bring the HR division into the matter.
"It’s unfortunate… Cabanac now wants a nice Payola."
He also denied any knowledge that the former Purple Cow politician, who’s party performed dismally at the 2019 polls, was involved in the filming of Zille’s podcast in the lead-up to that period.
And while he’s clearly part of the "back Brink" campaign, he’s defended the lacklustre response from the DA when Dr Mpho Phalatse was voted out of office in Joburg.
While Brink had campaigns being run by the DA, including different ministers publicly batting for him to remain in the capital, the DA had threatened its relationship with the ANC over its demand for his re-election as well.
"The circumstances were totally different. ANC, EFF, and PA [Patriotic Alliance] had put together a deal with Al-Jamah," he said.
"I liked her, still like her, I think she’s got huge potential for the future – when she was the mayor, I thought she did an outstanding job… I supported her to the hilt. I didn’t support her suddenly popping up, thinking she should be the leader of the DA. She hadn’t served even one minute in Parliament," added the former DA chief whip.