DA's Geordin Hill-Lewis on mayoral candidacy: 'It's not up to me'
Geordin Hill-Lewis hangs DA election campaign posters in Long Street, Cape Town.
Image: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers.
The Democratic Alliance’s Federal Leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said that it is his “firm intention to be the candidate” for mayor in the City of Cape Town, but that the decision is not up to him.
Hill-Lewis, who was speaking at the sidelines of the DA’s voter registration campaign in the Western Cape, along with the party's Metro Regional and Campaign Chair, JP Smith, said that the announcement for the mayoral candidate will be made next month.
When asked if he will be announcing his own candidacy for Cape Town mayor, Hill-Lewis said, “Can you please ask the DA that? Because I am one of the candidates, I know this sounds like a joke, but it is 100% not a joke. I am not involved in the process because I am one of the candidates, so the matter must come to the DA's Federal Executive in the coming weeks, and then an announcement will be made towards the end of June.
“It's absolutely my firm intention to be the candidate, so I hope that that's what the DA's FedEx decides, but I won't be there for the discussion. I will have to excuse myself,” he said.
The DA have been steadily announcing mayoral candidates from across the province since March, and just this past weekend announced more candidates for Prince Albert, Linda Jaquet, and Theewaterskloof, Jan Visagie.
DA Western Cape Leader, Tertuis Simmers, said: “With less than six months until the Local Government Elections, these candidates are tasked to keep their towns working, for all.”
Geordin Hill-Lewis hangs Democratic Alliance (DA) election campaign posters in Wale Street, Cape Town, as the party launches its campaign ahead of the upcoming local government elections. Hill-Lewis was elected DA Federal Leader in April 2026 while continuing in his role as Mayor of Cape Town.
Image: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers.
Geordin Hill-Lewis hangs Democratic Alliance (DA) election campaign posters in Wale Street, Cape Town, as the party launches its campaign ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
Image: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers.
Speaking of the election campaign, Hill-Lewis said that there is no such thing as an easy victory in politics.
“You have to work hard for it, and we cannot take for granted that Cape Town is ever in the bag. It is not. We have got to get the message out to everyone, particularly thousands, tens of thousands of DA supporters who have moved to Cape Town from other cities in the country. They've moved here because it is a functional city, but now they are still registered there.
“And we need to get the message to them that they have to re-register in Cape Town so that they can help make sure that we can carry on taking Cape Town forward,” Hill-Lewis said.
“So we've got hard work to do in the next five months. We take nothing for granted, and the phase of the campaign we're in now is focusing just on registration, which we will do for the next few months because of the two national registration weekends, and then obviously after that we will focus on the actual election.”
“I think every day we wake up knowing that we are in a very competitive environment,” Hill-Lewis said.
“There are lots of parties out there trying to take the only functional place in the country and trying to take it over, and that would be very, very dangerous and bad for the people of Cape Town. We know that.
“And so we have to go and make the arguments and talk to our voters and listen to their concerns and talk about what we still want to do to take Cape Town forward. So we take nothing for granted. Being comfortable in politics is a very bad thing. So we will work incredibly hard.”
When questioned about how he intends to manage campaigning as DA Federal Leader and running the City as mayor, Hill-Lewis acknowledged that his new role does take him away from the municipality he was elected to govern.
“It is a very difficult balancing act. At the moment, it's been a very, very hectic first month. I have been travelling quite a bit. But, as I set up the systems and processes and structures in both offices, get the diary under control, and plan exactly what I'm going to be doing.
“Campaigning on weekends like this last weekend, I was campaigning in Polokwane, but spent most of the week in the city, and I think that's kind of the balance I'll settle into over the coming months.”