DA Federal Council chairperson and Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille addressing delegates at the DA Federal Congress at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.
Image: X / DA
Outgoing DA Federal Council chairperson and Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille has promised that the election of new party leaders will be done openly and fairly.
Addressing the opening of the two-day federal congress at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Saturday, Zille said none of the more than 2,000 delegates would be bought.
“No one is going to be bought, no money is going to exchange hands for a vote, not even a box of chocolates. So we contest openly and fairly. We elect leaders peacefully without bribery, without coercion, without threats,” she said.
Zille added that the party debated policy in good faith.
“If you don’t win an argument or an election in the DA, you are not punished. You are respected for putting yourself out there as long as you do so with integrity,” she said.
Zille continued: “When you fail in the DA, you come back stronger by working harder, not by looking for excuses, playing the race card, or retreating into victimhood and factionalism.”
She said the DA valued open debate and not factional scripts.
“This is our culture because we are bound together by something greater than ourselves: a relentless commitment to making South Africa succeed.”
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and the party’s Sedibeng caucus leader Sibusiso Dyonase are the candidates to replace outgoing federal leader John Steenhuisen.
According to Zille, the DA was on course to become the largest party in the country’s metropolitan municipalities by the end of the year.
“And from there we move to our next milestone: becoming South Africa’s biggest party. Woza 2029, woza,” she said.
Steenhuisen said when he took over in 2019, he inherited a party on its knees, polling at 16%, divided, and riven by a crisis of confidence.
“The media confidently proclaimed the death of the DA. But, together, the people in this room refused to accept decline as our destiny,” he said.
Steenhuisen said he believed that there was nothing wrong with the DA.
“I hand over the baton of leadership with immense pride and complete confidence. The DA is stronger, larger, more relevant and more influential than at any point in its history,” he said.
Steenhuisen declared: “We are no longer a regional party or a perpetual opposition. We are a national force for reform – a party in government that is already making South Africa work better.”
He said the DA’s mission was to become the largest party in South Africa and build a country where every citizen has a fair shot regardless of their background remains as urgent as ever.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za