Johannesburg – The DA’s two Gauteng premier candidates indicated racial tension within the party, the ANC in the province said on Wednesday.

“The fact that the Democratic Alliance has two premier candidates is a distinctly inauspicious sign that the party is in a state of mess, confusion and leadership squabbles,” ANC Gauteng chairperson Dumisa Ntuli claimed.

He was responding to the news that the DA’s Gauteng leader Jack Bloom and party spokesperson Mmusi Maimane would vie for selection as the party’s preferred candidate for premier.

“It is a clear indication that there are deeper fights taking place between blacks and whites because of greed, factional battles and rupture caused [by] lack of policies and identity. We know that the DA is a white party and always want to hides behind a faade of a black face.”

Maimane dismissed Ntuli’s comments as political rhetoric aimed at diverting public attention from the ANC’s failings.

“They have no delivery record and are losing credibility. All they want to argue is race,” he said.

Attempts to portray the DA as a white party contained the implication that the ANC was, therefore, a black party, Maimane said.

The focus on race issues showed the ANC had departed from the non-racial principles of its former president Albert Luthuli, he said.

– SAPA