Two candidates, Sibusiso Dyonase and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, will contest the party’s top post of federal leader when about 2,500 delegates gather in April at the DA national congress.
The vote, scheduled for April 11 and 12, will set the DA’s direction as it seeks to consolidate gains made in the 2024 general elections.
The April congress will mark the first full leadership renewal since the DA’s strong performance in the May 2024 elections, where it won roughly 22% of the national vote and joined the government of national unity (GNU).
Nominations for the DA leadership race closed on Tuesday and candidates now have the opportunity to canvass delegates for their votes ahead of the conference.
Hill-Lewis, mayor of Cape Town, is widely seen as the front runner. Dyonase, a lesser-known figure within the party’s national structures, faces an uphill campaign to win over delegates. He is caucus leader in Sedibeng municipality in Gauteng.
The federal chairperson contest, a position that oversees party governance, drew two candidates: Ivan Meyer, a veteran Western Cape politician, and Solly Msimanga, the former Tshwane mayor and current leader of the party in the Gauteng legislature who has previously sought senior DA leadership roles.
Under DA rules, all campaigns must comply with strict internal regulations governing canvassing and delegate outreach
Seven candidates registered for three deputy federal chairperson seats, including minister of communications and digital technologies Solly Malatsi, Nomafrench Mbombo and minister of basic education Siviwe Gwarube, making it among the more competitive ballots on the card.
Separately, a parallel set of elections for the party’s federal council, its highest decision-making body between congresses, produced an even more crowded field.
Thirteen candidates filed to contest three deputy chairperson positions, a ratio that reflects intense competition for influence within the party’s governing structures.
Werner Horn, one of the two presiding officers who announced Monday’s federal congress nominations, entered the federal council chairperson race alongside Neo Mokoena and Ashor Sarupen.
Dyonase and Mbombo registered as candidates across federal congress and federal council ballots simultaneously.
Nominations opened on February 27 and closed on Monday. Under DA rules, all campaigns must comply with strict internal regulations governing canvassing and delegate outreach.
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