CHARLES MOLELE
MPHO Phalatse is expected to face John Steenhuisen in the final round of a closely fought race to lead the Democratic Alliance on Saturday.
Lungile Phenyane, an unknown DA leader from Tshwane, was eliminated from the three-way race for the DA leadership position after receiving the least support from party structures. Her nomination to lead the second-largest political party in South Africa came as a huge surprise to many within and outside the party.
Phalatse, 44, will now go head-to-head with Steenhuisen for the position of DA Leader at the Federal Congress.
The DA is scheduled to hold its federal congress at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand this weekend. The main agenda of the congress is to elect a new leadership and develop resolutions aimed at charting a way forward for the upcoming 2024 General Elections.
The congress is anticipated to be the largest gathering hosted by the party, with an estimated attendance of over 2, 000 delegates.
“It is all systems go, and we are convinced this will be our most historic Federal Congress yet,” said DA’s media manager Charity McCord on Wednesday.
“With more than 2, 000 delegates in attendance, the party’s Congress will convene over two days, starting on Saturday, 1 April 2023, at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.”
Phalatse, the former mayor of Joburg, has made several claims in various interviews, saying that she has developed a growth strategy that could potentially win votes for the DA during the upcoming general elections.
Furthermore, she also holds the belief that Steenhuisen has failed to expand the party’s support base, particularly among black South Africans.
In her campaign documents, Phalatse writes: “As the second largest political party and the official opposition, the DA is the only party that can legitimately call itself a government in waiting. We must therefore do everything possible to ready ourselves for governance in 2024, which is only a few months away. We must demonstrate in both word and deed that the DA activist is the central pillar of our strength as a party. We must build our structures, including our performance management, recruitment and selection processes, to build a strong DA that can save South Africans.”
Phalatse, who identifies as a liberal democrat, asserts that the upcoming congress provides the DA with a significant opportunity to prevent the country from continuing on its current trajectory towards complete collapse.
“It gives us an opportunity to steer our country into a new path – a path of progress and development for our nation. We have an obligation to urgently emancipate the people of South Africa from the shackles of despair and political disillusionment, which are a result of almost 30 years of the ANC’s politics of greed and plunder. Yet, I believe there is still hope for South Africa. We need a new leadership that can re-kindle the flame of hope and brighten the future for our children and their children,” said Phalatse.
According to a former DA youth leader, Phalatse is likely to face challenges in securing the position of party leadership since she reportedly has fewer supporters within the party.
“She stands no chance to defeat [Steenhuisen]. She was nominated by individuals. My guess is that if she gets more than 120 votes, this will be an achievement. She ran no media campaign. No one in the DA has publicly endorsed her, including black leaders in the DA,” the youth leader told Inside Politics on Tuesday.
But Jaco Engelbrecht, a former councillor for the DA in the City of Johannesburg and a former advisor in the Office of the Executive Mayor, wrote this week that Phalatse was well-positioned to grow the DA ahead of next year’s general elections.
“She did not come to a decision as a result of some failed coalition negotiations to retain the City of Johannesburg, as her detractors would make us believe. She does not decide things on a whim. She thinks deeply before making a decision. She asks for advice and opinions. She consults with specialists and those she trusts,” said Engelbrecht.
“She observed the governance of areas like the Western Cape and understood there is a correlation between good policies and good governance. She was not dropped into the party with a parachute. She joined the party of her own volition, became a councillor, later a member of the mayoral committee, and rose to become a mayor and, most of all, a skilled and respected politician.”
Phalatse, a mother of three, was born in Hebron, Pretoria.
She was elected the first female black mayor of Johannesburg in November 2021. In January this year, she was removed as Joburg mayor following a motion of no confidence.
A medical doctor with significant experience in the health sector, Phalatse was drawn to politics while working in Johannesburg.
She holds a doctorate in medicine from the Sefako Makgatho Health Services University.
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