By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga has been announced as the party’s premier candidate for the upcoming 2024 provincial and national elections.
DA leader John Steenhuisen made the announcement at a media briefing on Wednesday.
Msimanga was elected as mayor of Tshwane after the 2016 local elections through a coalition government between the DA and a number of smaller parties, with the informal backing of the EFF.
He stepped down as the mayor of Tshwane in 2019 in a bid to focus on his ambitions of being the provincial leader.
He was then appointed as the DA’s acting provincial leader after the departure of John Moodey. Msimanga was officially elected to the position at the DA’s virtual Gauteng conference in 2020.
He was recently re-elected to the position at a congress in August after beating Nkhumeni Ramulifho at the party’s provincial congress.
Steenhuisen described Msimanga as someone who has experience, enthusiasm, and determination in equal measure.
“He is a son of Atteridgeville who has previously served as mayor of South Africa’s capital city, as leader of the official opposition in the Gauteng legislature, and is also the current leader of the DA in Gauteng.”
Steenhuisen used the briefing to highlight the problems besetting local municipalities, which he believes is due to ‘small parties’ betraying voters.
“If you want to avoid the chaos that has made Johannesburg ungovernable from spreading to the whole of Gauteng next year, then you must unite behind the DA. We have seen over and over again how small parties like the Patriotic Alliance, Cope and Al Jama-ah, which are not part of the (Multi-Party) Charter, have betrayed their voters.
“These small parties are sellouts and traitors. Wherever they go, they cause instability and chaos, which they use to extract better deals for themselves from the ANC.
“They are parasites who care only about positions and patronage. It is time for the people of Gauteng – and the people of South Africa – to turn their backs on the small parties that are hellbent on undermining stability and the Multi-Party Charter for their own selfish gain,” said Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen said the DA is targeting an outright majority in Gauteng in 2024.
“This means that we need to start behaving like a true government-in-waiting. It means that we need to campaign not only on the basis of the ANC’s failures but also on the basis of the DA’s vision to rescue Gauteng.
“This requires the DA in this province to take our game to a whole new level. We will need to work much harder to register every single eligible DA voter. If we want to ensure not only that the ANC loses next year but that the DA wins, we will need to campaign every waking moment of every day.”
In a memo sent out to party members on 30 June, party’s federal chair Hellen Zille set out that the party would put forward premier candidates in only five provinces: Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and the Free State.
Thus Roy Jankielsohn as the DA’s premier candidate for Free State, Allan Winde for Western Cape and Isak Fritz for Northern Cape.
The DA has listed a number of requirements for those applying for premier candidate positions. The party requires candidates to have completed matric; experience as a public representative; specialised or demonstrable skills; two years of involvement in the DA or a community; leadership or management experience in dealing with complex organisations and leading teams; and a positive public profile.