Geordin Hill-Lewis’ bid to lead the DA could mark a shift in how South Africa’s largest opposition party navigates coalition politics, particularly on contentious policy debates about economic transformation.
The ANC’s declining vote share has opened what Hill-Lewis has described as a rare political opportunity. Converting that into electoral growth, however, will require sustained organisational discipline and a clear political strategy, including on broad-based BEE, in which the ANC’s internal debates about reform may yet create the kind of common ground that coalition governance demands.
The Cape Town mayor is emerging as the de facto replacement of agriculture minister John Steenhuisen as DA leader. This comes as the DA seeks to cement its role in the government of national unity.
Hill-Lewis acknowledged coalition politics inevitably requires compromise, describing the governing arrangement as a fundamentally new political model for South Africa.
‘Tightrope’
“This is a brand new model that South Africa has never had before,” he said in an interview with Business Day, noting that coalition governance requires parties to constantly navigate “this tightrope between when to co-operate and when to compete and draw a line”.
While the DA has historically called for scrapping race-based empowerment measures, Hill-Lewis suggested the government’s ongoing review of BEE could create space for meaningful reform.
Deputy president Paul Mashatile, speaking at a dialogue on the future of B-BBEE in Durban in late February, said abandoning the policy is off the table but acknowledged that its implementation has been inconsistent and faced what he called “various hurdles”.
The focus, he said, must be on reform, strengthening and disciplined implementation rather than scrapping the framework. He also took direct aim at fronting, saying companies that misrepresent black ownership to win tenders are committing economic sabotage, and called for stronger verification and real consequences.
Reform
The language from both sides is converging on reform, even if their starting positions remain far apart. Hill-Lewis argued that public frustration with empowerment policies benefiting politically connected elites is generating pressure for change.
“There is growing space, in fact I would say demand, for significant reform in that policy area in South Africa,” he said.
Mashatile made a similar acknowledgement, conceding that economic opportunities remain concentrated and that skills deficits are hampering the policy’s effectiveness.
His own case for B-BBEE rested not on defending the status quo but on the scale of what still needs to change, pointing to black farmers accounting for only about 10% of commercial agricultural output as evidence that transformation remains an unfinished project.
Hill-Lewis was also candid about the constraints coalition politics impose, saying that no party can expect to implement its full programme unless it wins an outright majority.
“If no one wins an election outright, no one gets to implement their full programme of action,” he said.
That reality means both the ANC and the DA will need to identify areas of policy overlap while setting aside politically irreconcilable proposals.
Hill-Lewis said that the DA must remain visibly distinct in the coalition. “It is not simply good enough to be there,” he said of the party’s role in government. “You must be there to make an impact, and that impact must be clear.”
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