OR WHY THE DA WENT BACKWARDS.

Most people in SA will be familiar with the lady on her bicycle who seems unable to avoid obstacles in her path. In the same way the DA seems unable to avoid obstacles on its way to the elections. As leader Mr. Maimane must take a large portion of the responsibility and I understand that he has done exactly that.

To list some of the major mistakes along the way I would start with the colonial tweets of Helen Zille. Whilst I fully understand that Musi disagreed with her tweets, I think he went overboard with his response. Instead of simply issuing a statement saying that Helen was entitled to her opinion and that it in no way represented the view of the DA, Musi had to call a press conference and subject the lady to public humiliation, thats no way to treat someone of Helen Zille's stature. This gave the impression that, if you are a member of the DA, you are not allowed to have independent opinions. In my mind this made a serious dent in my impression of the DA as an open and transparent party with integrity.

The next major obstacle was the situation surrounding "aunty" Pat, and her eventual resignation from the DA and as mayor of Cape Town. The reasons for the fallout between Ms. DeLille and the DA are still as clear as mud to most citizens of the country and the handling of the situation was anything but open and transparent. I am not a fan of aunty Pat but the DA's handling of this saga left me wondering if I could vote for them again. The whole murky business had the taste of underhanded scheming behind the scenes from both sides.

The situation at the beginning of the school year with the North West teacher being branded racist was another big bump in the road for the DA. The comments that were made by it's youth leader in the NW were ill considered and cost the DA quite a lot in that area and beyond. I still have not heard an apology from Mr Maimane or the DA, either to the teacher or the public about this matter. For a party branding itself as non-racist, this was an own goal.

The situation in Alexander township shortly before the elections and the DA,s response to it also had a big impact. If at the outset the Mayor had had the courage and foresight to go to Alexander and meet with the protesters on their homeground, then it would have been possible make gains from the situation instead of looking like an idiot too scared to go into Alexander. I am of the opinion that the ANC orchestrated the demonstration for political reasons, but the inaction of the DA made sure that the situation did maximum damage to the DA.

For me, a party after my vote, must have sound policies but most important to me are Courage, Transparency and Integrity, the DA has failed the test on the those last 3 counts, my message to the DA is that if you want my vote, you need to have a dramatic improvement on the last 3 items and I suspect that I am not alone.

OH! ONE MORE THING, LEARN HOW TO RIDE YOUR BIKE BEFORE YOU AIM IT AT THE GOALPOSTS.