'Final nail in the coffin' — Reactions to Steenhuisen and Zille getting re-elected

DA federal chairperson Helen Zille and party leader John Steenhuisen's re-election has drawn mixed reactions on social media, with some congratulating the pair and others predicting disaster ahead of next year's national polls. 

Steenhuisen, who beat challenger and former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse for the position, was retained as leader for the next three years at the party’s electoral congress and told delegates he had revived the party after many had written it off.

“Everywhere, people were writing the DA off. They were speculating about who would replace us as official opposition — and how soon — and what the country’s coalition prospects would look like once we’d faded away.”

He said earlier said the party should do all it can to stop a possible EFF-ANC coalition, and after his re-election declared Julius Malema’s EFF “political enemy number one of the DA”.

“I commit the DA to fight back against the EFF at every turn, with the ultimate aim of defeating the doomsday coalition that could seal South Africa’s fate next year. This is no longer about politics. It is about the survival of democracy, and the survival of South Africa.”

Steenhuisen said he would propose a “moon shot pact' with like-minded political parties and organisations to stabilise possible coalitions ahead of the national elections next year.

Zille was re-elected as DA federal council chairperson uncontested after her challenger, Lungile Phenyane, withdrew from the race. She also dropped out of the race for federal finance chairperson and federal leader.

DA deputy federal congress presiding officer, Mimmy Gondiwe, told BusinessLIVE Phenyane “withdrew voluntarily, because she felt that the current incumbents were doing well in those positions”.

Social media was filled with reaction to Zille and Steenhuisen's re-election, with some saying the DA missed “a genuine opportunity to inject new life into the party”.

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