The election of the DA’s new, young leadership is a step in the right direction, but it is not a magic wand that will eliminate the socio-economic challenges facing young people in the country, analysts said.
The DA federal congress held over two days at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, on Sunday elected Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, 39, as the DA federal leader, replacing John Steenhuisen, who elected not to run for a third term.
DA Gauteng leader and MPL Solly Msimanga, 45, was elected as federal chair, and deputy finance minister Ashor Sarupen, 37, was elected federal council chair.
The deputy federal chairs are basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube, 36, DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink, 38, and communications minister Solly Malatsi, 40.
The DA federal finance committee chair is Mark Burke, 36, and deputy federal council chairs are JP Smith, Thomas Walters and Carl Popham.
Their election has been described as the handing over of political power from the old guard to a vibrant young leadership.
Political analyst Sandile Swana said the politics of the new generation spans across political parties.
“Geordin Hill-Lewis needs to know how to engage with Malema and not say that Malema must be excluded from politics because there are no guarantees that such a thing will ever happen in the first place.
“Similarly, Geordin Hill-Lewis must know how to engage with the ANC, ActionSA and so on. Politicians of the future are politicians who are able to network and create a set of values that is generally accepted by them as a generation — a set of ambitions, a set of standards and a set way of doing things, no matter which party you are in, so that there’s a minimum that the citizens can get out of it.”
Swana said the politicians of the future must be collaborators and people who can clarify visions and standards that are suitable and beneficial to the citizens, such as “how do you swim with sharks without being eaten? Those are the politics of the future. That is what we need to be focusing on.”
Nelson Mandela University political analyst Prof Ntsikelelo Breakfast said there were strengths and weaknesses in the newly elected DA leadership.
“They bring new energy and will be able to reach out to young people. But black youth bear the brunt of racism; I don’t feel that the young white electorate experiences that. We can’t be simplistic and say because of this leadership the electorate’s response will be positive. That’s being simplistic,” Breakfast said.
The weakness of the new leadership is that Hill-Lewis lacks political depth, he said.
“When Tony Leon was leader, he had clear ideological clarity; there was depth. Even Helen Zille has depth. But this one [Hill-Lewis] doesn’t have depth. He is very general, and I hope there are no people from the old guard who will be pulling strings behind closed doors.
“I doubt old guards will let go of power. The contradiction is Zille is old guard. She says, I’m 75; I’m not going to stand. I will hand over to the new guard. Yet she wants to be the mayor. That’s the contradiction. If she wants to be mayor, then that means she wants power,” Breakfast said.
Msimanga said the DA will build more structures where people “can see us fighting for them … people must see us being the champions of the service or the issues that they care about”.
Hill-Lewis said: “We spent years building a party that could be a strong opposition. Then we built a party that could govern. Now we must build the biggest party in South Africa — a party that is strong enough to win. That is the mandate you have given me today.
“I accept it with determination and with complete belief in this party and our country. Now let us join hands and go out from this place to every corner of our beautiful land.”
Business Day
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