Cape Town - Cape Town Town mayor Patricia de Lille and the province’s former top cop Lennit Max will go head to head for the leadership of the Western Cape DA.
De Lille and Max are the only candidates for the position of DA leader in the province.
Western Cape DA leader Ivan Meyer, who oversaw the party’s win in the province during last year’s general election, is not standing for re-election.
In addition to Western Cape party leader, nine other provincial leadership positions will be contested. These are deputy provincial leader, finance chairperson, three deputy chairpersons and four additional members.
The position of DA deputy leader will also be contested by two candidates, incumbent Theuns Botha, the MEC for cultural affairs and sport, and Bonginkosi Madikizela, MEC for human settlements.
Local government MEC Anton Bredell was due to be elected provincial chairman as he was the sole nominee.
Delegates numbering 1 157 will cast votes in a secret ballot starting at 10.30am at the His People Centre in Goodwood.
The delegates consist of the province’s provincial executive committee, Western Cape members of Parliament, DA councillors from municipalities throughout the province, and all members of the provincial legislature. They will he joined by the chairpersons of 377 valid provincial branches, and a further 320 members elected by branches.
The results will be made known at 4pm today.
Both candidates for the top job have talked up their chances.
Max, who served as the province’s police commissioner between 1999 and 2003, said yesterday the DA in the province needed “new blood”. If elected leader, he said he would continue the good work of his predecessors by working to make the party more inclusive so that “everyone in the province could feel that they belong”.
Weekend Argus could not contact De Lille, who has served as mayor since May 2011.
But she told the Cape Argus on Friday that she “was the right person to take the DA to new heights in the Western Cape, building on the strengths of the current leadership”.
DA supporters in the Western Cape would know who their new provincial leader was after 4pm on Saturday.
Close to a thousand delegates attending the DA provincial congress in Goodwood, Cape Town, cast their ballots.
Weekend Argus and ANA