‘SA needs a dosage of renewed hope:’ Phalatse to challenge Steenhuisen for DA leadership

Former Johannesburg mayor, Dr Mpho Phalatse has announced that she will contest the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) top job at the party’s national conference.

The conference will take place in April this year.

‘Servant leadership’

Addressing the media on Monday, Phalatse confirmed that she will be challenging DA leader John Steenhuisen.

Phalatse said she believe that the DA needs a leader that prioritised service delivery to the country’s residents.

“The Alexandra experience was indeed the kid that ignited of active citizenship and goaded me into politics. I believe our country and party need a dynamic leader who is familiar with the concept of servant leadership,” she said.

“I also believe that my many years of experience as a technocrat in government and as a politician have sufficiently prepared me for the position of DA federal leader.

“Leading a huge multiparty coalition government in the City of Johannesburg, which is the hub of our country, is not something to be taken lightly. In fact, I am the only candidate for this position who has had this rewarding experience.”

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Phalatse further said the DA was the right to lead the country going forward, with next year’s elections approaching.

“There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that South Africa needs a significant dosage of renewed hope. It needs an alternative policy framework and approach to rebuild the country’s economy for the benefit of the multitudes, not the few.

“The Democratic Alliance is the only party that has demonstrated alternative options to the obsolete policies of the African National Congress.

“We, in the DA, however, need a relatable and dependable leader that can win back the trust of the electorate and lead our party to a decisive victory in the upcoming 2024 general elections,” she continued.

She added that she believed that the DA was a party for all South Africans, “black and white, rich or poor, urban or rural”.

Motion of no confidence

Last week, Phalatse was again booted out of office after a successful vote of no-confidence against her.

In an ordinary sitting at the Joburg council, 140 councillors voted in support of Phalatse’s removal, while 129 voted to retain her as mayor.

Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad was elected as the new mayor on Friday.

The DA has since been accused of leaving Phalatse out dry.

According to ActionSA, the DA betrayed the multi-party coalition in Johannesburg by refusing to accept demands from the Patriotic Alliance (PA), which wanted two mayoral committee positions.

READ MORE: Mpho Phalatse’s removal engineered by Patriotic Alliance

But Steenhuisen has argued that the DA tried all it could to save Phalatse, but “the price was too high to pay”.

The DA leader told Sunday Times that the PA’s demands were unreasonable.

“There was an attempt late last year to try to bring the PA back on board, [but] we were very sceptical. Nonetheless we made a compromise and began negotiations which led to the DA making six major concessions at the negotiating table while the PA made not a single concession,” Steenhuisen said.

“The price was too high to pay to bring the PA back on the terms that they wanted. There was no deal; there was a proposal which, tabled before our federal executive, it was not prepared to accept.”

The DA declined to give the PA the economic development portfolio the party although it was prepared to had over two other MMC positions.