Tony finally catches on

The esteemed leader of our esteemed "official opposition" has finally realised that he's outlived his effectiveness (in my opinion at least four years after that was obvious to me), and that the DA (in the mind of many voters, if not in reality structure-wise) was falling into a cult of personality:

"There is a danger, over time, that no matter how healthy or vigorous the internal workings of an organisation ... the identity and branding of the party will be almost completely absorbed into the identity and personality of its leader," Leon said.

As much as I consider Tony and some of the DA (Douglas Gibson comes to mind) as media attention grabbers, this almost has me thinking Tony sees the forest from the trees.  Has Tony been the Beast Rabban, setting the stage for a Feyd-Rautha to come with a subtler and more acceptible approach?

Apparently, there's a leaked party document that matches many of my views of the DA (and that in itself probably invalidates it): 

This is the crux of a leaked party document that criticises the party for neglecting black issues and promoting white interests, a strategy that - under Leon's leadership - saw membership growing to two million and improving its performance in elections.

... the leaked document - penned in part by chief executive and strategist Ryan Coetzee - painted a bleak future if the DA continued on its current tactical path.

Is Ryan Coetzee then making a power play?  Which could be quite ironic, since apparently he was behind the "Fight back" campaign...

Also mentioned as a contender by DA insiders yesterday was party CEO and MP Ryan Coetzee. While Coetzee is young and has been an MP only since 2004, he has worked closely with Leon for many years.

He was at the heart of the infamous “fight back” election strategy and has been an official spokesman for the leader and DA election campaign strategist.

Joe Seremane seems the only hope for a black leader of the party, opposed by a bunch of white faces (to mimic the DA's leadership page with Joe surrounded by 16 white guys) -  other mentioned include Coetzee and Helen Zille (although parting her with Cape Town might not be the best move).  Joe may have an advantage here - those within the party who aren't keen on a black leader might split their votes over the others...

Helen Suzman thinks a black leader for the DA is a good idea, although I was surprised she explicitly said man:

"I will like to see a strong liberal black man in charge. Not a guy who play games with the government, that will be good for South Africa,” said Suzman.

Interesting times, then.  So far, someamongus has some coverage.