DA determined to win the presidency battle in the general elections

The DA has urged South Africans to follow the party’s weekend national congress as it is a gathering from which the country’s next president will emerge.

The party’s congress will see the party’s current federal leader, John Steenhuisen, who will be fighting to retain his top position, slug it out with former DA Johannesburg mayor, Mpho Phalatse, who wants the congress delegates to use the gathering to eject Steenhuisen from the top office.

ALSO READ | IFP and ANC tensions mount ahead of elections

‘Party’s federal leader likely to become SA’s next president’
In an online piece published on the party website, DA federal congress presiding officer, Greg Kumbock, said it is highly likely that whoever is elected as the party’s federal leader will go on to become the country’s president after next year’s general elections.

Change is on the horizon for our country and with the DA waiting in the wings, it is the leaders whom the party elects in the coming week who will lead South Africa into a new coalition dispensation.
When you look at it this way, you realise that the DA’s federal congress is a milestone event for South Africa, the results of which could reshape our country for generations to come.
Given the ANC’s continued decline, Kumbock said, it is highly probable that the DA will either govern the country on its own or through a coalition.

READ MORE
Three shot in armed robbery at Durban restaurant
Kumbock assured the public that systems are in place to ensure that only the best leaders are elected at the congress.

ALSO READ | ANC in KZN slams Zondo for criticising party’s leadership

DA leaders, Kumbock said, “are chosen based on a track record of delivery and meritocracy, and in true liberal fashion, this excludes arbitrary markers of identity such as age, race, culture or religion.”

It’s the dream of non-racial democracy realised — a contest of ideas that spurs on innovation, discussion, and the unity of shared values and principles. But what makes the DA’s federal congress stand out is the sheer diversity and weighting of our delegates.
Apart from the federal leader position, posts which are up for grabs at the congress include that of chairperson of the federal council and that of the federal finance chairperson position.

The leaders who emerge at the party congress, which will be held at Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg, will serve three-year terms.

ALSO READ | Newly-elected Msunduzi ward 25 councillor to push for change

A highlight of the weekend conference is sure to be how DA Tshwane Municipality branch member Lungile Phenyane fares.

Phenyane, who is also contesting the federal leader position, resolved to contest all the positions on offer.

Phenyane (35) said she wants the presence of “women and the youth” felt at the party congress.