DA KZN: Who will win the race for provincial leader?

With just two days left, the race for DA KZN has tightened; many of the leaders within the DA structures in KZN have thrown their hats in the ring for the position.

EThekwini Caucus Leader, Nicole Graham will face off with her deputy, Emmanuel Mhlongo and Chief Whip in the KZN Legislature, Francois Rodgers in the race for the Provincial Leader position.

On Saturday 27 March 2021, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal will host its provincial political congress, with 575 delegates who will elect a leadership that will take the party to the polls later this year and beyond.

WHO ARE THE NEXT POSSIBLE LEADERS FOR THE DA IN KZN?

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• Nicole Graham

The only rose among the thorns in this year’s leadership race, Graham, is no stranger in the Democratic Alliance. She was one of the youngest people to be elected as a councillor for the DA in the eThekwini Municipality, at 21-years-old. When she was 28, she was one of the youngest people to take reigns of the party’s leadership in the city. At 31, she is now looking to become one of the youngest Provincial Leader in KZN.

Graham told IOL that her plan is to have a good working relationship with the caucuses and constituencies around the province, and to make sure that they are as skilled and as competitive as possible. “You know leadership is not about one person, and don’t want to be the be-all and end-all. We have great councillors and great representation around the province. It’s about how we build that team that can appeal to everyone in different ways,” she said.

• Emmanuel Mhlongo

Mhlongo who has served the DA for ten years and has been described as a key figure in driving the DA’s growth in the north Durban townships.  Mhlongo who was born in Bulwer ran a series of successful businesses before moving into full-time politics. Mhlongo’s efforts in north Durban saw it take wards 51, 58 and 106 from the ANC, which had held them for several terms.

Despite being one of the party’s top candidates, Mhlongo has been vocal about attempts of a smear campaign against him, allegedly by certain leaders in the DA.

• Francois Rodgers

Rodgers started his career as the party’s lone councillor in the Kokstad municipality in rural north-western KwaZulu-Natal. The 59-year-old who previously served as deputy DA leader in KZN told the Mail&Guardian that he believes the party is in a “unique” position in the province, one of only two in which it bucked the national trend and grew its slice of the provincial vote in the 2019 elections.

The party has also grown significantly in rural communities in which it previously had little or no presence, a path that Rodgers said it would continue to follow in the province.

Deputy Provincial Leader, Provincial Chairperson and Provincial Deputy Chairperson are some of the positions available for contesting in the upcoming congress.