Hill-Lewis denies playing role in Maimane’s demise in the DA

CAPE TOWN - Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has denied he played a role in the demise of his party’s former leader, Mmusi Maimane, that led to him quitting the Democratic Alliance (DA) in 2019.  

Hill-Lewis on Thursday addressed the accusations made in Maimane’s book for the first time, saying there was no active betrayal.  

In his book, Dare to Believe: Why I Left the DA, Maimane alleged that Hill-Lewis was part of an orchestrated campaign to topple him.  

ALSO READ: In tell-all book, Mmusi Maimane lifts lid on his DA exit

In his book, launched in May, the Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader named Hill-Lewis as part of a coalition of the aggrieved, whom he claimed were resistant to transformation and planted stories to discredit him.  

But Hill-Lewis has denied this, saying he cared greatly for Maimane.  

“When it became clear that he could not continue as leader after we had a bad election, that’s just a basic matter of political accountability. It’s not betrayal, it’s not personal. The party rank and file like to back a winner.”  

Hill-Lewis said he instead tried to advise Maimane to step down, stay on the front benches of the party in Parliament and start a new slate to ascend to the party’s top job again.  

“The intervening history has shown he’s destroyed a lot of his credibility and his potential in politics, and I don’t think he will rebuild it any time soon.”  

Hill-Lewis said he doesn’t believe Maimane should have left the party, adding that he would certainly have been in the national Cabinet had he stayed.  

Maimane now leads BOSA in Parliament with two seats and is the chairperson of the standing committee on appropriations.