Steenhuisen’s election a true test for DA – analyst
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga says he’s not surprised by the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) choice of leader after John Steenhuisen was chosen to head up the party at the weekend.
Steenhuisen won the election for federal leader by a landslide, taking 80% of the votes against KZN MPL Mbali Ntuli.
This comes after the party held it’s 2-day federal congress where Helen Zille was also re-elected as federal council chairperson and Ivan Meyer as federal chairperson.
Mathekga believes Steenhuisen’s election is a litmus test for the opposition party.
“It’s not a surprise at all. I mean it would have been quite a gamble as far as where the DA is positioned now to have gone the other way. It doesn’t mean the challenges are over, it doesn’t mean this answers the big questions that they are facing. For me, the big questions that they are facing is whether they can actually position the DA as a party that embraces multi-racialism,” says Mathekga.
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According to Mathekga, the DA still has a shot during the upcoming local elections.
“Everybody should be ready to take on the ANC – they’ve made setious mistakes and they are the incumbent. Local government is not in a good shape because of them, so I think the ANC is vulnerable. But I think that the big test of the DA would be whether Steenhuisen will lead the party to recovery of the ground,” he explains.
“These local government elections will be a big test on him and it will actually give them an indication as to what it is that they need to do before they get to the general elections as well.”
He adds not all is lost for Ntuli.
“The DA is not ready what she put on the table and it doesn’t mean it’s over. Mbali is still a young woman who still has a future in South African politics. It was quite good of her to give it a shot at this stage.
“I still think that in the future the DA could still look her way.”
The new leadership will serve for three years before the next elective congress.