Three candidates vie for DA's parliamentary position
Jan de Villiers, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, and DA National Spokesperson.
Image: Parliament of RSA
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is set to elect a new Parliamentary leader following the closure of nominations.
This comes after Geordin Hill-Lewis was elected as the Federal Leader during the recent congress. Hill-Lewis has outlined his leadership strategy, which includes Minister Leon Schreiber and strategist Ryan Coetzee leading the party's Cabinet members.
With Hill-Lewis set on retaining his role as Mayor of the City of Cape Town, this leaves the position of Parliamentary leader vacant.
DA national spokesperson Jan de Villiers had explained that the DA's federal constitution states that if the elected leader of the party, Hill-Lewis, does not sit in the national caucus, which is now the case, then the caucus needs to elect its own parliamentary leader.
“That happens in the same way that all our internal elections happen. We've got a nomination process, and then by the beginning of this week, it will have closed. Then we, as the members of the caucus, will know who the nominated people are, De Villiers said.
DA’s chief whip George Michalakis.
Image: Picture: Independent Newspapers Archive
“There have been three candidates who have been visibly canvassing and who have contacted most caucus members already - Kevin Mileham, Andrew Whitfield, and the current Chief Whip, George Michalakis.
“We know for a fact that three people are already in the race. It's a three-horse race already, but who knows, there might be a fourth or even a fifth candidate, and time will tell. But it is my expectation that those are probably the three people who are going to compete because they've been actively canvassing all caucus members,” De Villiers said.
Former deputy minister of Trade and Industry, Andrew Whitfield.
Image: DTIC
DA Member of Parliament, Lisa Schickerling, said that all three of the aforementioned candidates — George Michalakis, Andrew Whitfield and Kevin Mileham — bring strong experience and credibility to the race.
One source shared that the two most favoured are Whitfield and Michalakis.
DA Caucus Chairperson, Desiree van der Walt, explained that nominations for the election of DA Parliamentary Leader closed yesterday at 2 pm.
DA MP Kevin Mileham.
Image: Parliament RSA/Supplied
University of South Africa’s Professor Dirk Kotzé explained that while it is an important position, the DA’s structure means that the Parliamentary leader will still share responsibilities with the chief whip.
“Michalakis is there and is regarded as quite effective as the chief whip, so most of the work will actually be done by him. Whether he becomes the parliamentary leader, that might be something that will change the dynamics,” Kotzé said.
Kotzé said that the parliamentary leader is more of a symbolic person, and given that the DA is not an opposition party, it means that they won't play.
He explained that it will be someone able to organise the party on which positions to take on certain legislative votes or appointments.