{"id":96892,"date":"2026-04-07T13:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:59:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:59:04","slug":"ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair","title":{"rendered":"Ashor Sarupen Set to Succeed Helen Zille as DA Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>As the Democratic Alliance&#8217;s (DA) internal leadership contest heats up, Deputy Finance Minister Ashor Sarupen says he was more than ready to succeed his close ally, Helen Zille.<\/p>\n<p>Sarupen is contesting the position of federal council chairperson, a role Zille has occupied for the past six years.<\/p>\n<p>With Zille stepping down, Sarupen believes he was the right person to take over.<\/p>\n<p>He is set to face off against the party\u2019s National Assembly house chairperson, Werner Horn, as well as Neo Mokoena.<\/p>\n<p>Sarupen is eyeing a full-time role within the DA, one that is effectively responsible for overseeing the party\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n<p>Although he is up against two other candidates, analysts believe he is likely to enjoy the strongest support, given his close ties to Zille.<\/p>\n<p>Sarupen acknowledged that the position came with significant pressure, especially in an election year, but said he was more than ready for the challenge.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have known Helen all of my political career, and these are very big shoes to fill. Do I feel pressure? No. It\u2019s daunting, but I\u2019ve worked as her deputy for six years,&#8221; Sarupen said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ve probably had the longest apprenticeship under Helen as anyone in DA history. So I think that means I\u2019ve learnt everything I can to prepare me for this&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The DA&#8217;s national congress is scheduled to take place in Midrand this coming weekend.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. As the Democratic Alliance&#8217;s (DA) internal leadership contest heats up, Deputy Finance Minister Ashor Sarupen says he was more than ready to succeed his close ally, Helen Zille. Sarupen is contesting the position of federal council chairperson, a role Zille has occupied for the past six years. With Zille stepping down, Sarupen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-96892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-parties","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ashor Sarupen Set to Succeed Helen Zille as DA Chair - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the Democratic Alliance&#039;s (DA) internal leadership contest heats up, Deputy Finance Minister Ashor Sarupen says he wa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ashor Sarupen Set to Succeed Helen Zille as DA Chair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the Democratic Alliance&#039;s (DA) internal leadership contest heats up, Deputy Finance Minister Ashor Sarupen says he wa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T13:42:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T13:59:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1775557658.0131.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ashor Sarupen Set to Succeed Helen Zille as DA Chair\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-07T13:42:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T13:59:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair\"},\"wordCount\":255,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1775557658.0131.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ashor-sarupen-set-to-succeed-helen-zille-as-da-chair\",\"name\":\"Ashor Sarupen Set to Succeed Helen Zille as DA Chair - 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