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Johannesburg - DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said on Monday that he was going to build a version of the party that was more consistent and did not "flip-flop" in its stance on important issues.
"We flip-flop on issues, we support the NDP [National Development Plan] then we don't. We support redress, then we vote for bills that are racist fundamentally. That is not what I'm trying to build. I'm trying to build a party that is consistent, " he said in a televised debate with Democratic Alliance federal chairperson Wilmot James.
Maimane's comment was in response to a question initially asked to James by Rapport editor and Insig presenter Waldimar Pelser on the party initially voting for the Employment Equity Act Amendment Bill in Parliament, only to say it was mistake, and the party's relationship with the NDP.
"We are becoming an alternate ANC under the current leadership and I aim to set that right," James said.
Maimane said he was not in Parliament when the decision was made to vote for the "racist" bill.
"It was an error on our part. We should not have supported a bill that articulates quotas. What we should be doing is going back to our principles."
James agreed that the party was wrong in voting for the bill.
Maimane said he also wanted to create a party that communicated a new vision for the country.
"We have to be the party that communicates the vision for South Africa. Historically we have been a party that communicates what we stand against, how we oppose the ANC. Now the function is to articulate a vision for tomorrow."
Maimane and James are competing for the position of DA leader at the party's federal congress in Nelson Mandela Bay at the weekend.
