Serious allegations against the DA in Johannesburg

Freedom Front Plus leader Corne Mulder said the DA was to blame for the collapse of the Johannesburg coalition and may have orchestrated the city’s collapse.

Mulder shared his views about the Democratic Alliance (DA) during a discussion at the 2026 Biznews Conference at the Champagne Sports Resort in the Drakensberg.

He said that the Democratic Alliance is arrogant, which is causing problems for the party and for some of its leaders.

“Arrogance is a problem. I have dealt with the Democratic Alliance regarding coalitions for quite some time, and I do not even want to go into the details,” he said.

“It is my honest view that Johannesburg would still be governed by a coalition of good people today if it were not for the DA. I have no doubt about that.”

He explained that a coalition of ‘good guys’ was governing Johannesburg, but that it fell because of arrogance.

“Perhaps it was part of the DA’s strategy to let Johannesburg ‘go down the tube’ to where it is now, only to return later as a big saviour,” he said.

He cited John Steenhuisen, whom he described as an excellent chief whip. “A chief whip needs to be a little bit arrogant,” Mulder said.

“However, once you become a minister or a party leader, you must adopt a different approach than as chief whip.”

Mulder is not the only person who has described the Democratic Alliance as arrogant, which makes it difficult to work with.

ActionSA leader and former DA Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, has criticised the DA’s leadership as arrogant and out of touch.

Mashaba has slated the DA for its arrogant treatment of its coalition partners, adding that he will be reluctant to work with the party in the future.

He has also criticised the DA’s strategy in Johannesburg, and publicly blamed the DA and the ANC for the city’s ongoing breakdown.

Mashaba also blamed the DA’s former Federal Council Chair, Helen Zille, for orchestrating or triggering shifts inside the DA that dismantled stable administrations.

Zille is now the DA’s mayoral candidate in Johannesburg, and the party is leading the election race according to the latest polls.

ActionSA National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont, added that the DA does not treat smaller coalition partners in metro municipalities with respect.

Like Mulder, Beaumont alleged that the DA had actively engineered the collapse of coalition talks rather than compromise with other opposition parties.

He added that the DA took a deliberate decision to let the coalition in Johannesburg collapse rather than step back or compromise.

Zille has previously dismissed this label, saying that political rivals use arrogant as a catchphrase when the DA enforces its core principles and policy standards.