Linda Ensor
8 January 2009
Cape Town — Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Sandra Botha will be stepping down as an MP and is understood to have been offered the post of ambassador to the Czech Republic.
DA justice spokeswoman Sheila Camerer is also leaving the DA's parliamentary caucus at the end of next month - to become ambassador to Bulgaria.
Botha said yesterday she would not make herself available for reelection and would leave Parliament when this term ends, though she would contribute to the party's election campaign.
She would "pursue opportunities outside party politics" but insisted she would remain "a loyal member of the party".
The latest diplomatic appointments follow the dispatch of former DA chief whip Douglas Gibson as ambassador to Thailand more than a year ago.
DA chief whip Ian Davidson welcomed the recognition that the government was giving to politicians of different parties and said it was an indication of the quality of people within the DA.
Botha's departure could make it easier for the DA to do away with the separation between parliamentary leader and national leader of the party -- introduced when Helen Zille was elected to replace Tony Leon while continuing as mayor of Cape Town.
Zille said yesterday she had not yet decided on any future roles as mayor, premier of Western Cape or leader of the party in Parliament. DA rules allow her as party leader to be top of both the provincial and national lists of election candidates. The DA has a good chance of taking control of Western Cape because of the factionalism in the African National Congress in the province and the emergence of the breakaway Congress of the People .
There has been criticism that the DA's dual leadership deprived Zille of the high profile that could be derived from taking on the ruling party and its president during parliamentary debates. Should the DA decide to keep the arrangement, a parliamentary leader would be elected by the new caucus of the party after the elections .
Davidson said he understood that Botha had had to keep quiet about her retirement from politics so that diplomatic procedures relating to her appointment could be finalised. However, she probably also felt she had to withdraw early from the process of drawing up lists of election candidates, which was under way.
Botha has been an MP since 1999.
Foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa would not comment on the reports, saying the host country had to confirm an ambassadorial appointment before it could be announced.
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