Msimanga ‘attractive’ to voters
Msimanga is DA premier choice
The DA has chosen Solly Msimanga as its Gauteng premier candidate because its internal survey results indicated that Msimanga was “more attractive to voters”.
This, according to party insiders, was the main reason the party preferred Msimanga, 38, as premier candidate over his friend Makashule Gana.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane officially announced Msimanga as the party’s Gauteng premier candidate in Johannesburg yesterday.
The DA poll was conducted among young people, women, black middle-class, whites, coloureds and Indians. Msimanga scored favourably among the voters.
“The party relied on the survey polls it conducted. Msimanga was favoured because the survey polls said Msimanga was more attractive to voters. DA polls are vigorous and are regarded as highly reliable,” a DA councillor said.
Msimanga, who had initially said he would not run for the premier post, was challenged by high-profile DA leaders – his political ally MPL Gana, MP Ghaleb Cachalia, former national spokesperson Refiloe Ntsekhe and Tshwane council speaker Katlego Mathebe.
Msimanga had even attended Gana’s campaign launch.
Some DA leaders have, however, questioned whether Msimanga would be able to cope running a campaign as premier candidate and being Tshwane mayor.
They said Msimanga would find it difficult to run the Tshwane city and campaign for the DA at the same time.
But another DA insider said Msimanga does not run the city on his own.
“He works with a team. It is not something that has not been done before in the DA,” the leader said.
He said when Helen Zille was announced as Western Cape premier candidate she was still serving as the mayor of Cape Town.
“We don’t feel that there is any contradiction in the fact that he can serve the people of Tshwane and campaign to be premier.”
Msimanga promised to hit the ground running, starting with a caucus meeting on the way forward. “I can assure the people of Tshwane that they will never be abandoned. We will continue to ensure that Tshwane is governed,” he said.
Msimanga said there was competition between him and Gana. “The competition was who can present the best case so that we are able to put the candidate out there for the DA in Gauteng. There are no positions that are reserved for Solly Msimanga or Makashule Gana. Even Mmusi, if he decided to stand for premier of Western Cape or Gauteng, he would have had to go through a similar process.”
Maimane said that any suggestion that the selection of Msimanga as Gauteng premier candidate was prearranged was false.