The insider added that Maimane’s failure both to stamp his authority on the party and to articulate a clear vision for the direction in which he wishes the DA to progress is now costing him dearly — and resulting in a dearth of senior DA members willing to put their necks on the line for him.

Absolutely! I think Mmusi sees himself as a "unifier", but he's gone a wrong way about it. Steenhuisen once said he doesn't know what Maimane's core values are. Phumzile said something similar about sticking her head when Zille was attacking Maimane.

The thing about politics is that if you take a "diplomatic" route, then you need to have a set of "attack dogs" who will go to the gutter for you. That's how Ramaphosa does it, Maimane is just naive.

Having said that, things might work out great for him if he plays his cards right. Based on the recent News24 article as well IRR's comments, it's clear that things are gonna go racial. There are a lot of black people who feel that Mmusi is weak, but they will coalesce around him now. The self professed "classical liberal" faction blew its load way too early.