Port Elizabeth – More than 70 delegates at the DA’s federal congress in Port Elizabeth sang and marched on Saturday morning in support of the party’s Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip for the position of federal chairperson.
“On your marks, get set… We are ready for Athol Trollip,” the group sang as they made their way to get registered for the congress at The Boardwalk Convention Centre.
Most were dressed in blue T-shirts, bearing a beaming face of Trollip.
“This is my home province, and these are the people I am with everyday,” he told News24, in reference to the group.
“What makes me the candidate to win is my experience and my institutional memory. Like the slogan, I am tried, trusted and tested.”
‘We’ll make a fantastic team’
He said he was confident that the party’s parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane would be elected DA leader on Sunday.
“The two of us will make a fantastic team,” Trollip said.
Nosimo Balindlela, the former Eastern Cape premier and ANC member who joined the DA in 2012 said she was looking forward to the pairing of Trollip and Maimane.
“We are mixing important aspects with the two. Experience and wisdom with youthful leadership,” she told News24.
“Athol is a tried and tested leader and Mmusi is an up and coming leader. We hope people will see that.”
‘Not about race’
Eugene Goliath, 41, who also hails from the Eastern Cape said delegates should not see Trollip based on his race.
“It is not about the person, and whether he is white,” he said.
“If you have the ideas, like Trollip does, these ideas are important and should be discussed.”
He said Trollip’s opposition candidate for chairperson, Makashule Gana would fall short during the voting.
“Trollip is in the front and Gana is at the back.”
The other candidate contesting for party chairperson is MP Masizole Mnqasela.
News24
Alan Straton
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