DA leadership race: Candidates Geordin Hill-Lewis and Sibusiso Dyonase vie for the future

As the DA candidates vote for John Steenhuisen’s replacement this weekend, the party believes the next leader will be the state president in the next general elections.

These were the remarks of DA’s Federal Congress spokesperson, Luyolo Mphithi, at the party’s media briefing on Thursday as the party was outlining its activities this weekend at the Gallagher Convention in Midrand, Johannesburg. 

More than 2,000 candidates started to arrive on Thursday in Johannesburg for the main elective event that will start on Saturday and end on Sunday, with voting and announcement of the new leadership.

Announcing his stepping down, Steenhuisen, the Minister of Agriculture, said he would focus his political career on being the minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU).  

The candidates for the DA leadership position are City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Sibusiso Dyonase, the party's caucus leader in the Sedibeng District Municipality.

“This is the DA’s largest congress to date, and when we met a few years ago for this same congress, no one believed that the DA would be in the national government, but there we are in the national government. 

“Many of my colleagues will agree that we could be electing the next president of South Africa in this congress. We do believe that it is possible,” said Mphithi.

He said under the new leadership, the DA will approach the local government elections with the goal of winning with an outright majority in all the municipalities across the country.

“As a party, we are ready to lead in municipalities across our country, and we are ready to lead the country in 2029,” he said. 

Mphithi said the party was determined to hold a free, fair, and transparent congress “to showcase the beauty of our party to South Africans”.

University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) political analyst, Siyabonga Ntombela, believed that the DA still has the capacity to become a majority party through promoting a narrative that, under the GNU, it managed to decrease the level of corruption in the country. 

“Also, the ANC president once said the best-run municipalities are under the DA leadership. 

“These points will resonate with the middle class in particular,” he said.

However, Ntombela expressed doubts about Hill-Lewis’s credibility, which he said had been ruined by gross income inequalities and abject poverty in Cape Town’s black townships, “which he has not addressed up to now”. 

“As for Dyonase, he is an unknown individual except to the DA constituency. In South African politics, populism and charisma are the two important determining factors,” said Ntombela.

However, another UKZN political analyst, Zakhele Ndlovu, said the DA has reached its ceiling without being able to convince black Africans to vote for it. 

“It has done well with minority groups such as Indians and Coloureds, but it needs the support of the black middle class to become the largest political party.

“I don't see Hill-Lewis taking the DA to another level since it remains a lily-white party,” said Ndlovu. 

The party had on Thursday evening elected a new Federal Council chairperson to replace Helen Zille, who is now going to focus on her campaign to be the mayor of the City of Johannesburg Municipality.

The candidate who emerged as the new Federal Council chairperson will be announced on Sunday, along with the new leader. 

The candidates for Zille’s replacement were the party’s finance spokesperson, Dr Mark Burke, shadow deputy minister of public enterprises, Erik Marais, and federal finance chairperson Fanyana Nkosi.

Bridget Masango, one of the presiding officers over the election of the leaders, said the presiding officers’ responsibility was to safeguard the integrity of the congress’s proceedings.

“And ensure that all processes are conducted fairly and are conducted transparently and in line with the DA’s constitution. 

“We act as neutral custodians of the process, and that includes overseeing the voting process and ensuring compliance with the rules and maintaining order. 

“The delegates and South Africa can be confident in the fairness and credibility of the DA federal congress this weekend,” said Masango.

 Another presiding officer, Werner Horn, said the event would follow a party's formal set of election rules, which he said was equivalent to those of the Electoral Commission of South Africa.    

Horn said presiding officers’ duty is to enforce the standard code of conduct. 

“When a candidate submits acceptance of nomination, they must also agree to abide by the standard of conduct. 

“If one candidate complains about the messaging of another candidate’s tactics, the presiding officer must determine facts before taking a remedial action. 

“When a candidate is unhappy with a specific ruling, they can declare a dispute, and then our legal team is empowered to determine that dispute,” said Horn.

In an interview with SAFM's The Talking Point presenter, Cathy Mohlahlana, on Friday morning, Horn said Hill-Lewis and Dyonase's capabilities were based on their experiences in their various municipalities.

“I have got Geordin, who has a record of leading success in local government, while Sibusiso comes from the Vaal region, which is dysfunctional, and in that sense, he has a perspective, having looked at those government failures,” said Horn.

The delegates will start registering early in the morning on Saturday and thereafter gather for a reflection of the outgoing leadership's performance through report-backs.

“There is a constitution amendment, policy resolution, and saying goodbye to Steenhuisen, who is going to be no longer the leader.

“On Sunday, there will be accreditation of delegates, who will immediately go into the voting area, and at around midday or 1pm, the newly elected leadership will be announced,” said Horn.

[email protected]