Africa-Press – South-Africa. Five candidates are in the running for the position of Limpopo DA chairperson, as the party’s provincial congress kicks off in Polokwane on Saturday.
The province was under administration before this weekend’s elections.
Former provincial chair Jacques Smalle will again throw his hat into the ring and will come up against two other members of the Limpopo legislature – Risham Maharaj and Désirée van der Walt.
Smalle is currently a member of the Limpopo legislature.
He is a founding member of the Democratic Alliance, which emerged out of the Democratic Party in 2003.
According to Smalle’s profile on the DA Limpopo website, he started his political career as an activist in the late 1990s, assisting vulnerable children in the province, especially children in Oudtshoorn who suffered from the unjust legacy of apartheid.
He became a DA councillor in 2000.
Van der Walt is a Member of the Provincial Legislature.
She was DA leader in Limpopo until June 2012 and is seeking a return to the party’s top position in the province.
Van der Walt worked in the corporate banking world for nine years.
She was also the DA’s national spokesperson for arts and culture between 2004 and 2010.
From 1995 to 2000, she served as a ward councillor in the Roodepoort City Council.
Maharaj is the DA’s Limpopo spokesperson for public works, roads, and infrastructure.
More than 140 delegates are expected to attend the congress on Saturday, where new leadership will be elected.
DA MP and presiding officer, Bridget Masango, said preparations had been finalised and that the province was ready to elect new leaders.
She said a total of 142 delegates were expected to vote this weekend.
She added:
DA leader John Steenhuisen is expected to address the congress.
The party is attempting to reassert its position in the province after it lost its status as the main opposition to the EFF following the 2014 national elections.
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