Umngeni Local Municipality mayor Chris Pappas is lifted up by DA deputy provincial leader in KZN, Sithembiso Ngema, after he was announced as the party's premier candidate for KwaZulu-Natal. Photo: supplied
Durban — Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe has hailed the DA’s decision to appoint the “young and energetic” uMngeni Local Municipality mayor, Chris Pappas, as its premier candidate.
The party’s top brass, including federal leader John Steenhuisen and federal chairperson Ivan Meyer, announced 32-year-old Pappas’s nomination on Monday.
Zululand University-based Seepe said the DA had made the right decision which would pay dividends in next year’s general elections.
Seepe said Pappas had been profiled as a good administrator, having done wonders as the mayor of the uMngeni Local Municipality in a short space of time.
Pappas’s ability to speak isiZulu fluently was an added advantage for him, Seepe added.
“I think it was a great decision by the party leadership to appoint someone who has a proven track record in governance. He is also young and has more energy so he would appeal to young and old,” said Seepe.
Excitement outside the Durban City Hall this morning where the DA will announce our Premier Candidate that will take the party into the 2024 elections.
— DA KZN (@DA_KZN) September 25, 2023
Residents are desperate for change! It is time to rescue KZN! pic.twitter.com/OpX3HLJ2sV
Announcing Pappas’s premiership candidacy on the steps of the Durban City Hall, Steenhuisen likened the appointment to “bringing the Western Cape to KwaZulu-Natal”.
Many people were flocking to the Western Cape from KwaZulu-Natal in order to access better services under the only DA-run province in the country, Steenhuisen said.
He emphasised that there would no longer be a need for people to leave for the Western Cape because Pappas would manage KwaZulu-Natal, the way the DA managed the Western Cape.
Delivering his acceptance speech, Pappas pledged to rescue the province from corruption, and urged everyone to join him and vote for the DA in next year’s election.
“I feel honoured to be chosen. I will stop corruption, and I urge each and every one of you to join me in rescuing the province.
“Hopelessness and fear are choices, so to overcome them, we must summon our courage. Now, more than ever, it is time to be fearless and to take up responsibility to create a new future,” said Pappas.
The 32-year-old will be the youngest premier in the province since 1994, if elected. His appointment appeared to be a done deal since no one from the DA contested the position to allow him to be the automatic choice.
Pappas said winning the province was within reach because people believed the DA was a Cape Town party when it won the Mother City from the ANC and then grew to take the Western Cape, and had now taken uMngeni Local Municipality.
Party provincial leader, Francois Rodgers, deputy provincial leader, Sithembiso Ngema, and provincial chairperson, Dean Macpherson, threw their weight behind Pappas.
The three top provincial leaders were said to have long indicated that they had no interest in the premiership candidacy to allow Pappas to be the automatic choice.
The DA boasts about how well the Western Cape is governed, and after winning uMngeni Local Municipality, the party has been saying it could do the same in KZN.
Pappas’s popularity gained momentum soon after he took over as the mayor of uMngeni Local Municipality. His added advantage is that he speaks isiZulu fluently, which will enable him to campaign in the rural areas of KZN.
The uMngeni Municipality is a local municipality within the uMgungundlovu District Municipality.
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