JP Smith elected DA Cape Town metro chairperson
JP Smith was elected as the DA’s chairperson in the Cape Town metro on Saturday. JP Smith was elected DA chairperson in the Cape Town metro, defeating fellow mayoral committee member Zahid Badroodie for the top job. Smith, who has been the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee for safety and security since 2009, was the first elected DA member to hold this position. The three deputy chairpersons are Patricia van der Ross, Ricardo Mackenzie, and Phindile Maxiti. The additional metro executive committee members are Abdulkader Elyas, Grant Twigg, Rob Quintas and Mzwakhe Nqavashe. Smith plans to focus on improving the party's ability to contact and engage voters and to train and develop new leadership.
प्रकाशित : 2 साल पहले द्वारा Jan Gerber में Politics
• JP Smith was elected DA chairperson in the Cape Town metro.
• He trounced fellow mayoral committee member Zahid Badroodie for the top job.
• The Cape Town metro and the Western Cape are crucial for the DA in next year’s elections.
JP Smith has been elected DA chairperson in the Cape Town metro on Saturday.
Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, staved off a challenge from Zahid Badroodien, the mayoral committee member of water and sanitation.
News24 reported earlier on Saturday that the smart money was on Smith to be elected into this position.
The three deputy chairpersons are Patricia van der Ross, Ricardo Mackenzie and Phindile Maxiti.
Theresa Uys was elected as secretary, and Ian McMahon as chairperson of finance. The additional metro executive committee members are Abdulkader Elyas, Grant Twigg, Rob Quintas and Mzwakhe Nqavashe.
In a statement, DA MP Désirée van der Walt, the presiding officer for the election, said the party was confident the newly elected leaders “will take the DA forward in the region and will contribute to building a strong DA for a better future for all”.
“As a party that prides itself on its democratic internal election processes, today’s proceedings show residents that the values of freedom, fairness, opportunity and diversity are central to the party’s belief systems and that, although our internal structures allow for rigorous contestation among party members, we are still unified under the banner of the DA,” said Van der Walt.
Smith has been the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety and security since 2009. During that time, he has often irked opposition parties and the ANC national government’s police ministers.
A recent example was the taxi strike in the Western Cape in August. In the aftermath, rowdy EFF councillors disrupted a City council meeting, carrying placards reading “JP Smith must fall” before Speaker Felicity Purchase ordered them to leave.
Smith told News24 earlier that he would focus on “taking the metro forward, as this City will play a crucial role in bringing out as many votes as possible in the national and provincial elections next year to rescue South Africa from five more years of ANC rule”.
He said he would concentrate on improving the party's ability to contact and engage voters and to train and develop new and young leadership.
The Cape Town metro and the Western Cape are crucial to the DA’s fortunes at the ballot box, even in a national election.
WATCH | Some opposition parties locked out of Cape Town council meeting after disruptions mar sitting
In the 2014 provincial elections, the DA received 59.38% of votes cast in the Western Cape. This dropped to 55.45% in 2019, impacting on its underwhelming national result and leading to upheaval within the party.
The 2019 elections were preceded by a bitter fight between Patricia de Lille, then the DA mayor of Cape Town, and the DA caucus. Smith was deputy chairperson of the caucus at the time. During this period, in October 2017, the DA placed De Lille and Smith on special leave from party activities in the Cape metropole.
It eventually culminated in De Lille resigning as mayor and DA member on 31 October 2018. De Lille subsequently formed a new party, GOOD, and was appointed in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet after winning two seats in the National Assembly in the 2019 elections.
The ructions in the DA Cape Town caucus have since subsided.
The metro regional congress is a precursor to next month's provincial congress. Smith was also elected as one of the DA’s national deputy federal chairpersons at the party's national conference in April this year.
विषय: Metro