admin
Port Elizabeth — Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane was elected as the new head of the opposition party at the party’s congress in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
“Your new leader is Mmusi Maimane” said outgoing federal leader Helen Zille.
Maimane is the first black leader of the opposition party, that garnered 22.23 percent of the national vote in last year’s elections.
The federal leadership position was contested by Maimane, outgoing federal chair Wilmot James and two other members, Adrian Naidoo and Morgan Oliphant. While waiting for the announcement, the crowd had chanted “Mmusi, Mmusi’’.
Also announced at the federal congress, held over the weekend at the Boardwalk conference centre, were the appointments to the federal council, three deputy federal chairpersons and the federal chairperson result.
They were: Federal chairman of finance Alf Lees, with deputy chair of federal council Thomas Walters. Third deputy chair was Desiree van der Walt, second deputy chair was Refiloe Ntsekhe and the first federal deputy chairperson was Ivan Ivan Meyer.
The crowd chanted “Meyer, Meyer’’ at this.
Atholl Trollip was announced as the federal chairperson.
On April 12, Zille announced that she would not seek re-election as party leader at the congress, after eight years at the helm.
At the time, Zille said she would continue as Western Cape Premier until the end of her term in mid-2019.
Before the announcement was made, tension mounted as the party named Gauteng as its best performing province and Zille as the best fundraiser in the DA.
Zille accepted the acknowledgement by singing along to Brenda Fassie’s “Vulindlela’’.
“That’s the last time you’ve to hear me sing,’’ said Zille, who thanked the party’s organisers for their work.
Leading up to the announcement Convener Greg Krumbock said: “We’ve showed South Africa and the world how internal elections should happen.’’
There were no disputes and all candidates and agents signed off on the results.
He quipped that “no chairs were broken but we did break plenty of records’’.
Meanwhile, former DA leader Tony Leon yesterday provided a few guiding words for the soon-to-be announced new leader of the party.
“He must adopt strategies and tactics to grow this movement further. He must honour the past, but he mustn’t live in the past,” Leon said at the party’s federal congress in Port Elizabeth.
“He must hoist aloft [late former president] Nelson Mandela’s banner of a non-racial South Africa. Your next leader must speak to the possibility of our futures. Not the sum of all our fears.
“Let’s make sure that he succeeds.”
He said the party, under outgoing leader Helen Zille, stood on more winning ground than when it was founded. “Today, as the second leader makes way for the third, we can be very proud,” he said.
“I once noted that the success of any leader is the success of the leader’s successor.”
He said he and Zille did not always agree, but belonged to a party whose first name was “Democratic”.
“The Bible enjoins us to build a house of many mansions in which there is room for everyone.”
He read a quote by former US president Theodore Roosevelt, on the strength of character and persistence of a ‘‘strong man’’ but not before a tongue-in-cheek comment.
“Let me just say to the Twittersphere that this was… before women had the right to vote in America”.
This was in reference to the social media backlash at veteran journalist Allister Sparks who said at a tribute for Zille on Saturday that he had known several intelligent politicians “including Hendrik Verwoerd” and many other “dull and stupid” ones.
Leon was earlier introduced to the stage by Zille.
She praised the work done by Leon during the Convention for a Democratic SA (Codesa) negotiations, and the work he had done in helping to draft the Constitution. — Sapa
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter