Zille’s return puts S Africa opposition head on notice

Bloomberg

Mmusi Maimane, the leader of South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), saw his hold on the party slip as his predecessor Helen Zille was elected head of the party’s Federal Council.
Maimane has come under pressure to quit as leader of the DA after the party’s share of the vote shrank to 20.8% in May elections from 22.2% five years earlier. Speculation has been rife that he could be voted out at its next elective conference, due in 2021.
Zille, the former premier of Western Cape province, beat Athol Trollip, a Maimane ally and ex-mayor of the southern city of Port Elizabeth, and two other candidates in the contest for the chairman’s post, Solly Malatsi, the party’s spokesman said in post on Twitter.
A polarising figure, Zille was forced to step down from the DA’s leadership structure in 2017 after a series of controversial tweets in which she defended aspects of colonialism.
She said she’d agreed to make a comeback to help stabilise the party and get it back on track — comments that were viewed as critical of Maimane’s leadership.
The DA wrested control of Johannesburg, the economic hub, and Pretoria, the capital, in 2016 municipal elections as it capitalised on discontent over then-President Jacob Zuma‘s immersion in a succession of scandals.