Johannesburg – The race for the leadership of the DA in Johannesburg has reached fever pitch, as the official opposition scrambles to claw back lost ground.
The party is holding an elective conference in the country’s economic heartland on Saturday, in the wake of an exodus of its black leaders in the crucial region.
The organisation has also lost control of the rich metro to the ANC.
During by-elections in Gauteng, in which 14 wards were hotly contested last month, the DA lost four wards in total to the ANC, Patriotic Alliance and Al-Jama-ah.
The official opposition lost ward 68 (Riverlea) to Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance and was also beaten by Al-Jama- ha in ward 9 (Lenasia 1,3, 7 and 13).
This coming weekend, DA MPs Tsepo Mhlongo and Manny de Fritas, and Joburg councillor Shakira Choonara will contest for the position of regional chairperson.
Mhlongo, who is the party spokesperson on sports, arts and culture, is one of the front runners.
Meanwhile, several senior ANC leaders including those in the party’s top six are expected to face a barrage of allegations of wrongdoing and told to step aside.
Sunday World revealed that both camps in the ANC, one supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa and another backing the party’s secretary-general, Ace Magashule, will face off over a resolution that leaders facing allegations of wrongdoing should step aside.
The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), the highest decision-making body between conferences met earlier this week in what ANC insiders are expected to be a big showdown between the Ramaphosa and the Magashule factions.
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