The Democratic Alliance (DA) will this weekend determine what policy propositions it will present to South Africans ahead of next year’s elections.
The country’s largest opposition party will hold its Federal Congress in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, over the next two days.
Two thousand delegates will tackle issues such as coalition governments, economic justice, and energy policy.
DA MP Mathew Cuthbert says, “Some of the issues that we are looking at over the weekend are things related to the independence of the Reserve Bank and making sure that we guarantee the independence of the Reserve Bank; expanding on the sustainable development goals in the municipalities where we govern; and making sure that we adequately implement our economic justice policy that we adopted in 2020 within the places that we govern, such as the western cape and the other odd 30 municipalities around the country. Some of the other issues that we are going to be tackling are gender-based violence and youth unemployment.”
Members from the party’s branches across the country will, over the next two days, debate policy and elect the DA’s leadership for the next three years.
The delegates will register for the congress early this morning before the opening ceremony, scheduled to take place around nine o’clock.
The DA Congress Federal Presiding Officer Greg Crumbock says, “Our Constitution specifies that at least 45 percent of our delegates should be non-public representatives, and that gives us the opportunity to make sure the authentic voice of South Africa is represented at our congress.”
He adds: “The delegates are chosen on a fairly complex formula, and they are voted for in their branches, as I have said, and a list of delegates from every branch will go through, and we will then rank them with the criteria, including Is this branch in an area that is not controlled by the DA. So, in that way, we make sure we are representing not only the people who vote for us but also the people who would very much like to vote for us.”
DA’s state of readiness briefing:
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