Geordin Hill-Lewis is officially running for DA leader

Mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis has officially announced his campaign to be the next Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s second-biggest political party. 

He said it is with a sense of pride and excitement that he announces he will stand to become the next leader of the DA, replacing outgoing leader John Steenhuisen. 

Hill-Lewis has long been highlighted by analysts as the frontrunner to be the blue party’s next leader. This is after Steenhuisen announced he will not run for a third term as DA leader at the elective congress in April. 

“When John announced a few weeks ago that he would not be seeking reelection, I felt this mission stir in my heart,” he said. 

He took the opportunity to thank Steenhuisen for his leadership, saying the outgoing leader steadied the ship and that the party would not be where it is without him. 

Furthermore, he thanked his “many” colleagues within the DA and friends who expressed confidence in him in the last few weeks. “I do not take your words lightly,” he said. 

“And so I stand in front of you with a sense of trepidation. I feel a strong sense of duty, a responsibility that I cannot ignore. At the same time, I feel the same sense of passion and optimism that has guided our work here in Cape Town,” he said. 

“I feel that same passion and energy, and that same hope for our country and its future,” he said, adding that the DA has proven through its work in Cape Town that decline is reversible. 

Hill-Lewis said he is under no illusions about the difficult road ahead, but that he is prepared to work arm in arm with others to bring the country to prosperity.

The mayor added that he is excited that many younger DA members will stand for leadership roles in the upcoming elections as well.

“One of the things that I love about the DA is that we don’t appoint our leaders, we elect them,” he said. “We don’t have leaders who never even bother to have a congress.”

The DA holds a congress every three years, where it expects each candidate to be clear and unequivocal about what they offer, according to Hill-Lewis.

Geordin Hill-Lewis reveals his plans for the DA

Hill-Lewis said he will head to the upcoming congress seeking a specific mandate: to build a stronger DA.

“If we are going to build a stronger South Africa, we must have a stronger Democratic Alliance. Stronger DA, stronger SA – that is our mission,” he said. 

This includes showing that the DA governs well and improves people’s lives, and that enterprise allied with compassion is the way to achieve growth and jobs. 

“We must demonstrate that the DA in government is the best guarantor of opportunity,” he said. “Not everyone has to like us friends, but everyone has to agree that we are the best in government.”

He said no one should be able to say, in his time as leader, that the DA governs only for a select few. 

The second goal in building a stronger DA is attracting voters who have never voted for the party before. Hill-Lewis said many believe the party only discusses what is broken and not how to fix it. 

Hill-Lewis said he plans to hold the position in the Government of National Unity (GNU). “A DA that aligns itself with permanent opposition status is weak,” he said. “Making noise is not the same as making a difference.”

However, he added that a DA that is silent within the GNU is also weak and fails those who voted for the party. Hill-Lewis said the party will need to learn when to compromise and when to draw the line. 

“I will make sure that the DA works every day to fix our government,” he said. However, he added that the party must see its values reflected in government. 

He said there is a notion that South Africa is not fixable, but he unequivocally rejects this idea and believes there is hope for the country. 

“I’m talking about the hope that comes from rolling up our sleeves and actually doing something,” he said, “and the hope that will come when we emerge as the largest party in 2029.”