DA Policy conference: Voting mix-up did not sway adoption of policies, party says

The Democratic Alliance has clarified its voting categories, saying votes attributed to non-voting delegates during its first-ever Zoom virtual policy conference did not have an impact on the adoption of certain policies.

This after some in the conference raised concerns over non-voting delegates taking part in the voting on policies adopted on Saturday.

News24 learnt of the lapse from some participants in the conference, with one saying auditors had confirmed this happened.

One of the party’s Members of Parliament, Ghaleb Cachalia, also commented on the development on Twitter, saying the post-audit results were upheld.

The party’s national spokesperson, Solly Malatsi, confirmed this, and said it was the result of some confusion by a small number of the non-voting delegates.

“During the calculating of the votes, the auditor was then able to see those allocated as non-voting delegates had mistakenly voted. This is how it was picked up,” said Malatsi.

He said the number of those who had done this was minimal and had no real impact on the overall outcomes.

“It did not sway the votes, did not result in a change of the vote, and it shows that the internal checks and balances worked when it picked up the mistake,” said Malatsi.

He said the federal council had accepted the outcome on Sunday morning.

For this conference, the party has been using the Zoom voting mechanism, which is different from the one expected to be used next month when the DA elects a leader.

Contributions

Federal council chairperson Helen Zille, in a video update, said there were exceptionally good contributions made on Saturday.

“Yesterday, we did not so much discuss policy, we fleshed out the principles in our constitution that are already there and we gave them some substance and meaning,” said Zille on Sunday.

She said Sunday’s session would focus on the economic exclusion of millions in the country, who are not able to earn a decent living, put food on the table and provide for their families.

Referring to it as the number one policy priority for the country, Zille said the aim was to look at livelihoods and the progress to be made in this regard in a “DA way”, and to get the country working.

The DA adopted numerous policies, including one that said race was not a proxy of disadvantage when dealing with issues of redress.

The DA will wrap its policy conference on Sunday and hold a media briefing on Monday.

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