Geordin Hill-Lewis, Solly Msimanga join race for top DA posts

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Democratic Alliance leader in the Gauteng Legislature Solly Msimanga and have thrown their names in the hat for the party’s leadership race on Friday morning. Msimanga has entered the contest for Federal Chairperson, as Hill-Lewis accepts a nomination to run for Federal Leader. Nominations for the party’s top positions officially opened on Friday.

In Cape Town, Hill-Lewis said after consideration, he had also accepted the nomination for DA leader. I today announce that I am standing to be the next leader of the Democratic Alliance,” Geordin Hill-Lewis told a rally in Cape Town to the cheers of hundreds of supporters. “Under my leadership, we will show, as we have shown here in Cape Town, that the DA governs well and governs for everyone,” he said.

This comes after current DA lead, John Steenhuisen, has confirmed that we will not run for re-election. Steenhuisen, at the beginning of February, and whose term as DA federal leader ends in April, said that, given the challenges facing the agricultural sector, he had resolved not to contest the party’s top position at the upcoming federal congress. From right here in Durban — not far from where I first climbed the steps to the council chambers 27 years ago — I today announce that I will not seek re-election for a third term as DA federal leader at the party’s upcoming federal congress. “For the rest of this term of office, I will focus all my time and energy as Minister of Agriculture on defeating the most devastating foot-and-mouth disease outbreak our country has ever seen, and on pursuing mass vaccination to ensure that this is the last mass outbreak of FMD our country ever experiences,” he said.