Poll win boosts Trollip’s mayoral campaign
DA EASTERN Cape chairman Athol Trollip’s successful campaign to become party chairman has been boosted by the fact that he is in the running for mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
Buoyed by what is understood to have been 80 percent polling support at the weekend congress, Trollip yesterday said his campaign “could not have been given a better kickstart”.
Nelson Mandela Bay Metro was central to this weekend’s DA federal congress: held in that city, the party made no secret that it wanted to take the metro in next year’s local government elections.
Tshwane, the seat of the Union Buildings, is another metro in the DA’s sights. Cape Town is secure for the DA, according to the party.
Trollip was named Nelson Mandela Bay Metro mayor candidate some weeks ago, as the Eastern Cape was the first DA province out of the blocks in the race for the municipal poll.
DA federal council chairman James Selfe, who is also the head of the municipalities committee, yesterday confirmed the party was making an early start.
Named
DA mayoral candidates in the other eight provinces would be named as soon as these provinces were ready, he added.
Speaking after the leadership announcement, Trollip was upbeat, but acknowledged hard work lay ahead for the party.
He added that if the DA won, he would resign as provincial party leader to take up the mayoral chains.
For Trollip, election as party chairman marks a reversal of fortunes: in 2007 he lost to Helen Zille in the race for party leader; in late 2011 he lost the contest for DA parliamentary leader to Lindiwe Mazibuko.
Meanwhile, the word yesterday was that Makashule Gana, who lost to Trollip, was inconsolable.
Although Gana’s campaign picked up energetic and enthusiastic momentum on Saturday, it ultimately floundered. That he had lost became clear as results emerged towards noon yesterday.
However, in the DA, which prides itself on robust contests which do not see losers purged, Gana’s loss meant he would pick up where he left off.
“I continue as an MP. I continue with my political school… I go ahead as an MP,” Gana told the Daily News.
Other DA leadership election results include:
MP Alf Lees, from KwaZuluNatal, is the new finance boss.
The three deputy chairpersons are former Western Cape DA leader Ivan Meyer, MP Desiree van der Walt and Gauteng MPL Refiloe Ntsekhe, who received rousing support when her name was announced.
Thomas Walters continues as deputy federal council chairman, having defeated former Mpumalanga DA leader Anthony Benadie while Selfe, who has held his post for 15 years, was not contested.