The potential dilemma Steenhuizen faces would never have arisen if the DA embraced the principle of merit. A university degree is no guarantee that a person is better suited to a position than one without a university degree. PW Botha was not a university graduate yet he was acknowledged as a competent parliamentarian and administrator.

But the DA’s obsession with transformation, which is just a code word for racial representivity, has much to do with the direction in which Mncwango appears headed. If Steenhuizen is demoted as a result of Mncwango’s policy, the DA would relegate a highly experienced and competent representative whose abilities as DA caucus leader in the eThekwini council were widely respected long before Mncwango appeared on the scene.

Sent into The Mercury and published, 27 November 2018.

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