#WCcongress: Madikizela calls for unity

Bonginkosi Madikizela

Bonginkosi Madikizela

Published Oct 8, 2017

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There has been a resounding call for an end to internal rivalry within the DA following Bonginkosi Madikizela’s narrow defeat of Lennit Max on Saturday to become party provincial leader.

Madikizela won what has been described as a “close and hotly-contested” race for the position, which could see the winner rise to become Western Cape premier.

In February, he was elected as interim leader of the DA following Patricia de Lille’s resignation in January.

Since then the party has been rocked by internal squabbles between those seen as old Independent Democrats (ID) members who joined the DA with the party’s then leader De Lille, and a much larger base that supports Premier Helen Zille, who has been a strong ally for Madikizela.

MEC for Social Development Albert Fritz was elected as deputy leader, beating out Max’s candidate, MPL Masizole Mnqasela.

MEC for Local Government Anton Bredell retained his position as provincial chairperson, while City of Cape Town caucus chairperson Shaun August alongside the City’s mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith and Breede Valley’s constituency chairperson Antoinette Steyn were named as the three deputy chairpersons.

Addressing delegates after his victory, Madikizela called for an end to internal contestations and for party members to work towards increasing supporter numbers.

“Immediately after (elections) we have a mammoth task, for all of us to go out there and do two very important things. The first is to make sure that in areas where we are in government, the 29 municipalities in this province, there is no reason why we cannot see change in our people’s lives,” he said.

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“The only way for us to get more votes is when those people see differences (being made) in their lives, especially where we are in government. The second thing is to make sure as the DA we leave here united.

“Together with the other people I have been elected with, we have several things to work on.

"The first being consolidating the support because there are many DA supporters who are starting to feel disillusioned. We must make sure that our supporters feel valued again.

“The next is to work tirelessly in the rural areas, in farming communities because many people there don’t feel our presence, in fact there is a perception out there that we are more for farmers than we are for farm workers.

"We have got to show that we are a party for all. We need to rebuild trust with farm workers. If we are going to be the government in power come 2019 and continue to be in power here in the Western Cape, we need to go to the opposition’s stronghold, many people are disillusioned but don’t yet see us as an alternative.

"We need to strive to make sure those people see us as their home, they go out in numbers to vote to get corruption power out of government.

“As we leave here the contestation is over, come up with a clear plan on how we are going to achieve these focus areas.”

Party members at the congress believed the unity call would fall on deaf ears for as long as the squabbles within the DA were swept under the rug.

“Nobody wants to admit that there are factions in the DA but we all know what is going on and who is actually in charge and who won today,” one said.

“What happened to Anda Ntsodo shows that there were people pushing for Madikizela to become the leader at all cost, there are many of us who want to believe that the party can unite but not until the truth is spoken out in the open and we stop being secretive about certain people.”

Speaking to Weekend Argus, Max said he was considering his future in politics following his fourth defeat in a quest to become DA leader.

“I expected to win. I only needed nine votes to win. It is my fourth time and I wanted to make a contribution to the DA and add value in the position of leader; it was not about position or glamour,” he said.

Weekend Argus

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