By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) KwaZulu-Natal provincial leader Francois Rodgers on Saturday was re-elected to the top position during the party’s provincial congress which took place in Durban.
Rodgers, who is also a DA MPL in the KZN Legislature, defeated his rival, DA Msunduzi councillor, Bongumusa Nhlabathi.
Currently the third largest party in the province, the DA has an agreement with the IFP to cooperate in the province’s hung municipalities.
Others elected to key positions in KZN were Sthembile Ngema who was elected as the provincial deputy leader and Dean Macpherson who was elected as the party’s provincial chairperson.
These are the results:
Provincial Leader – Francois Rodgers
Provincial Deputy Leader – Sithembiso Ngema
Provincial Chairperson – Dean Macpherson
Provincial Deputy Chairpersons – 1st Deputy Chairperson – Martin Meyer, 2nd Deputy Chairperson – Hlengiwe Shozi and 3rd Deputy Chairperson – Hannah Winkler.
Provincial DAWN Chairperson – Remona Mckenzie
Provincial DAWN Deputy Chairperson – Zoe Solomon
Rodgers said among areas of focus leading up to the 2024 elections will be disgruntled rural and urban dwellers who’ve been let down by the ANC.
Speaking on the sidelines of yesterday’s provincial congress in Durban.
Rodgers added many black voters in the province are now tired of defending the ANC which at one point was famous liberating the masses but only for it to exploit the very same people today.
“If you at recent polling that has been done and you look at the emerging isiZulu market in urban areas, these are people that are paying bonds, that have cars they have to pay for and fuel their cars and suffer with electricity outages, they have to pay rates and taxes.
“They are subjected to what’s failing in the ANC. Those are the 40% of ANC voters who are looking for a new political home.”
Rodgers said the problem is that the ANC has just reached a point where it no longer cares while the black community is increasingly realizing there is no longer a benefit to being loyal to the ANC.
“They’ve become used to doing what it is they normally do and the fact that they can’t see that the communities are angry and wanting change, the ANC just can’t do that.”
DA KZN Congress on Saturday heard several speakers pointing to the “success” of the uMngeni Municipality – the only municipality the party governs in the province – indicating that the DA is “ready to govern” the province. The DA came into government in uMngeni following the local government elections in 2021.
Now the party believes what Mayor Chris Pappas and his deputy, Sandile Mnikate, have been able to achieve in that municipality “in the short space of time” is what the party will sell to voters in the province come 2024 as an example of what the DA can do when allowed to govern.
DA leader John Steenhuisen, who addressed the congress, told the delegates that KZN has an “enormous potential, despite the ANC’s best efforts to ruin it.”
Steenhuisen said:In fact, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is going to be home to one of the DA’s flagship campaigns in the leadup to the 2024 election. This is because victory is within reach here for the DA.
“The unfolding dynamics in KZN provides a perfect case study for what we can achieve through the moonshot pact I announced at our federal congress.”
He added that the relationship between the DA and the IFP in KZN demonstrated what could be achieved when political parties “work together in the best interest of the country.”