DA’s strategy for next year’s elections
THE DA is gearing up for next year’s elections, setting its sights on winning the Northern Cape and Gauteng while retaining the Western Cape with increased support. But the party has failed to douse political flames and simmering divisions.
Party leader Mmusi Maimane at the weekend revealed part of the DA’s plans for the general elections after the party’s federal executive had met.
Maimane said their focus lay in Gauteng, the Northern Cape and Western Cape, with these being their “strategic” provinces.
He said their plan was to become the biggest party in Gauteng and the Northern Cape, while retaining the Western Cape with an increased majority.
“In addition to this, we plan to substantially increase our percentage of the national votes cast.
“This means that the provinces of KwaZuluNatal, North West and the Eastern Cape will contribute significantly to the growth targets of the party based on our strong structures and electoral performance,” he said.
He added that in recent by-elections, the DA had grown significantly in both rural and urban areas – in suburbs and in townships.
In the Eastern Cape, the party recently grew from 88% to 96.01% in the Ward 18 by-election in Buffalo City municipality, and from 6.24% to 24.94% in Ward 9, Ingquza Hill local municipality.
But in the Western Cape, the only province run by the DA, the party saw double- digit losses to the ANC in two by-elections held in traditional DA strongholds.
The ANC grew by 17% in Oudtshoorn and 11% in Saldanha Bay.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said there was still time for the DA to implement its recovery plan.
“But the chances of that happening are slim, given the sentiments of the voters in the province. I don’t think the DA is imploding, but if you’re talking about getting more voters, the DA is restraining its voter growth,” he said.
Mathekga added that although there were ambitious leaders in Gauteng, voters still liked Premier David Makhura and especially President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The ANC is currently at just more than 50% in Gauteng, but with the right people they will take it.
“The DA has leaders like Herman Mashaba and Makashule Gana, but the latter is very young. Gana has not been in leadership positions. At best he may be mayor before wanting to be a premier candidate.
“You’ve never run a spaza shop, but you want to run the whole food chain. It won’t work,” Mathekga said.
Asked about the Northern Cape, Mathekga said: “It’s a small province in terms of numbers. Not even John Block’s demise affected the ANC. The ANC will take it.”
Bonginkosi Madikizela, the DA’s Western Cape leader, said the province had been named the best province by the Auditor-General and StatsSA.
“We have our problems, but through it all we have attained so much. The De Lille matter, for instance, does come up at our public meetings, but people are more interested in breadand-butter issues,” he said.
Ebrahim Rasool, the ANC Western Cape’s elections head, said close to 5000 volunteers would be launching the Thuma Mina (Send Me) campaign next month.
“We are not overly confident about our campaign. We are going to communities with a sense of humbleness, because we know that we need to get their trust and prove to them that we are serious. We are not in election mode yet, we are now planning,” he said.
The party is restraining its voter growth