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If there is a split in the DA and an attempt to establish a purely liberal political party it will simply ensure that the ANC remains in power for the foreseeable future, says the party's former chief strategist Ryan Coetzee.
City Press reported on Sunday that there are plans afoot to create an offshoot of the DA based on the party's liberal principles, which some disgruntled members, including MPs, are being eroded by leader Mmusi Maimane.
He warned in a series of tweets on Sunday that the "centre-ground alternative" to the ANC will be split and that decisive leadership is now necessary to give clear direction to the country's biggest opposition party.

The DA needs to get a grip. (a) Liberalism and redress are not mutually exclusive. (b) A herstigte PP would split the centre ground alternative to the ANC and guarantee it a few more decades in power...
— Ryan Coetzee (@RyanCoetzee) May 27, 2018

The DA needs to get a grip. (a) Liberalism and redress are not mutually exclusive. (b) A herstigte PP would split the centre ground alternative to the ANC and guarantee it a few more decades in power...
— Ryan Coetzee (@RyanCoetzee) May 27, 2018

(c) The inside of the party can feel like a whole universe, especially when you're at the centre of a drama, but actually there is a big, wide world out there and much bigger problems in SA than yours. So...
— Ryan Coetzee (@RyanCoetzee) May 27, 2018

(d) Mmusi must provide clarity and leadership; James and Mmusi and a John must sit down and sort things out between them; the provincial leadership must provide some leadership and bring their people along with them and these "senior MPs" need to stop being silly.
— Ryan Coetzee (@RyanCoetzee) May 27, 2018

(e) Because in the end, it's not about you (any of you) and no one owns the party. You get to look after it for a while, and need to leave it better than you found it. And that's all.
— Ryan Coetzee (@RyanCoetzee) May 27, 2018

Coetzee was in charge of party strategy and is widely credited with modernising and professionalising the party's operations, assisting the growth of its electoral support between 2004 and 2011. He left the DA allegedly after a disagreement with then-leader Helen Zille and took up a position as adviser to Nick Clegg in 2012, who was deputy prime minister in David Cameron's coalition government.