Johannesburg - Former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has lost the DA leadership position with a disappointing 16%, while John Steenhuisen received 84% of the votes at the party’s elective conference in Joburg yesterday.
Phalatse told The Star that she was happy for Steenhuisen and that she had sent him a message congratulating him on his second term as DA federal leader.
Her loss to Steenhuisen did not come as a surprise.
It was apparent that the DA delegates would judge her on her performance as mayor of the City of Joburg and her role as caucus leader of the DA.
The party had been disgruntled with her relationship with an ActionSA member, and she was seen to be listening more to ActionSA in the Joburg coalition than her own party.
Phalatse told The Star that, despite her paralysing defeat, she would stay in the DA.
“There is definitely a future for black leaders. I have had a lot of support from the delegates that were here today, with a lot of them urging me not to give up, and they are urging me to put my hand up again. They are urging me to stay and find inspiration in what I did; I need to think about my next move, and my next move is not leaving the DA,” Phalatse said.
She said she did not look at her loss as a matter of race saying there were other factors involved.
“This was a more complex process. There is more to me than my race. There is more to other candidates than their race.”
Phalatse said she was not at liberty to comment on the margin between her and Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen thanked all the delegates who voted for him. His acceptance speech did not touch on the trust deficit that the DA had with the majority of South Africans.
Instead, Steenhuisen said the party was ready to govern after the 2024 elections.
Steenhuisen was credited with growing the party by 26% after inheriting poor numbers from Mmusi Maimane, who had failed to grow the party.
Maimane left the DA after differing with the FedEx on his vision for the party.
Steenhuisen said one of his first tasks as he returned as DA leader would be to rally all like-minded political parties behind forming a united front that would strategically oppose the ANC.
“Our party will immediately initiate a process to form a pre-election moonshot pact with like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and civic movements to defeat the ANC and keep the EFF out,” Steenhuisen said.
Steenhuisen said the DA was wary of an ANC-EFF coalition in the provinces and at national level after the elections next year. He said this coalition would bring poor service delivery and a regress in democratic gains.
“The day that an ANC-EFF government takes over, it will be doomsday for South Africa. Let me tell you, EFF doomsday will make the collapse of Zimbabwe look like a dress rehearsal,” Steenhuisen said.
Some political analysts said Steenhuisen’s re-election was an indication that the DA was going back to its genealogy which mainly targeted the white vote. This meant the DA would compete with the FF+ for votes.
In media interviews at the congress, DA federal chairperson Helen Zille said the DA looked at people as individuals and not the colour of their skin.
She emphasised that leadership positions were also awarded on the basis of merit. But she maintained that the DA was one of the most diverse parties in South African politics.
The Star