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The three-horse race for the powerful position of federal chairperson is set to take centre stage when the DA heads to its biggest elective congress yet.
Federal leader Mmusi Maimane and long-serving federal council chairperson James Selfe will waltz into conference uncontested, leaving former Gauteng chairperson Solly Msimanga, Free State chairperson Annelie Lotriet and the incumbent Athol Trollip to battle it out.
Eight candidates were set to contest for the three deputy federal chairperson positions, but the DA’s chief electoral officer wrote to Rollence Mabula on Thursday to inform him that he had been disqualified for failing to disclose a pending case of fraud against him.
Mabula has vowed to challenge the decision in a court of law should the decision not be overturned by Tuesday – three days before congress takes place in Tshwane on April 7 and 8.
City Press understands that two hot topics could be raised on the congress floor, including the call for a deputy leader position to be added and an amendment to the system used to pick congress delegates.
The current system places heavy emphasis on public representatives and gives more delegates to areas where the party gets the most amount of electoral support, to the detriment of up-and-coming areas like townships, where the party needs to make significant inroads to break its current voter ceiling.
Delegates will also discuss a 31-page document of resolutions, covering a range of priority areas for the party and outlining its plan for governance should it manage to unseat the ANC.
Introducing a jobseekers’ allowance, observing August 16 as Marikana Memorial Day in honour of those who died in the mining town and preserving section 25 of the Constitution are some of the resolutions that the DA will discuss and possibly adopt.
On access to jobs, DA MP Hlomela Bucwa has proposed the introduction of a jobseekers’ allowance to the value of R150 per month for all unemployed young people aged 18 to 34 who are actively looking for a job.
Bucwa also proposes that a DA national government could assist young disadvantaged South Africans in finding work by rolling out a national job centres project in which unemployed people can access job opportunities, including learnerships and apprenticeships, on a local database and get assistance in preparing job applications or receive employment counselling.
Mayors Solly Msimanga of Tshwane and Herman Mashaba of Johannesburg want the country to decentralise public finances and stimulate regional competition by giving local councils a share of revenues generated through corporate taxes of local businesses.
MP Alf Lees proposes a reduction of government expenditure swiftly and dramatically, which will save billions of rands, to rectify the revenue shortfall by making cuts to the size of the Cabinet – including a reduction of the public sector wage bill by implementing a “freeze” on increases for one year and cutting all public sector performance bonuses for top-level management.
On land reform, a DA national government would commit itself to protecting not only clause 25 of the Constitution, but the inclusive and continuous extension of private property rights to those excluded in the past – as is inherent in the clause, proposes Thomas Walters.
Walters wants the DA to commit itself to promoting the pursuit of justice in land reform, not by making the state a proxy for land ownership, but by ensuring that those entitled to land receive it in the form of direct ownership with adequate support to be economically successful.
