Cape Town - In what could be indicative of the party's direction, prominent DA members will be vying for top jobs in the party ahead of next year's local government elections.
While he's not the most charismatic politician, Cape Town mayor Dan Plato has been campaigning to replace incumbent Grant Twigg as the DA's Cape Town Metro chair.
Nationally, former DA Youth leader Mbali Ntuli will know whether her insurgent campaign, prosecuted mostly on social media, will propel her to unseat DA interim leader John Steenhuisen.
Plato announced his bid for Cape Town Metro chair in August, and all indications are that he has the support from the party's top echelons and delegates to swing the contest in his direction.
It helps that he had previously served as mayor when former DA leader Helen Zille was elected as premier in 2009.
When Patricia de Lille was forced out as mayor in October 2018, Plato was there once again to fill the void.
Whoever wins the contest between Plato and Twigg would be in a prime position to be the DA's Cape Town mayoral candidate, a victory for the party which is almost a foregone conclusion judging from the city's electoral history.
In October last year, Twigg faced a motion of no confidence that was brought by DA councillor Rose Rau and Transport Mayco member for transport Felicity Purchase made a written submission for the case against Twigg.
Speaking to the Cape Argus at the time Plato was mum on the party’s plans to table a motion of no confidence against Twigg.
He said: “Grant is a big boy, he is a game player and he understands this process. This is part of the process of saying our things openly and transparent.
“This is not a concern for us.”
But it was a concern for Plato, he believed the Metro leadership was in crisis and had to intervene as they prepare for local government elections next year.
The moves against Twigg were perhaps prompted by the DA's relatively "poor" support in the Cape Town metro.
While local and national elections can't be compared, the DA's share of the vote in the Cape Town metro went from 67% for the 2016 local government elections to a "paltry" 53% in last year's national election.
If this trend continues, they could again be forced to go into coalition with smaller parties.
While a significant chunk of white voters have abandoned the DA, either Plato or Twigg will have to expand the DA's appeal amongst coloured voters who have been a reliable voting bloc.
While delivering his manifesto Plato said the party has lost 111 000 votes in the region in the last elections.
Plato has promised to establish standing committees on a regional level to address key issues such as land invasions and job creation.
Plans Plato could implement as Mayor, Twigg has yet to announce his plans and he has no time left to woo delegates as voting commences on Saturday.
Twigg has repeatedly commented that “Like those who brought a Motion of no confidence against him, he did not after “demotion” fight them.
“I continued to build that's why we have 114 branches. We are going to continue to build. I will work harder,” he said
Plato has said: “The last couple of weeks there were talks about whether the metro is broken, I don’t know what this means, those are not my words.
“I did not say those words that would be an exaggeration. I would say there is work to be done. The pilot who refuses to see that they are flying too low and ignores the warning signals will crash into the mountain. We must raise the bar.”
Charles is a metro writer for the Cape Argus.
Cape Argus