- The DA has a new leader in the Eastern Cape.
- MP Andrew Whitfield was elected provincial leader after beating Chantal King.
- Both candidates have vowed to unite the party.
The DA in the Eastern Cape will be led by party bigshot Andrew Whitfield, who took control of the province on Saturday after a two-day elective congress in Graaff-Reinet.
Whitfield, an MP, beat his rival, Chantal King, but the results of the vote were not announced at the conference. A confident Whitfield said the party would set its growth plan into action.
"In this DA, we will work to get to every community and town. We are going village by village, town by town and suburb by suburb to get the word out that the DA delivers.
"I am not going to accept anything less from all of you," he said in his first speech as provincial leader.
The new deputy provincial leaders are Vicky Knoetze and Mlindi Nhanha.
Delegates elected Yusuf Cassim as provincial chairperson, a position previously held by Whitfield.
Speaking to News24 after the conference, King said she accepted the outcome.
King said:
The party's three deputy provincial chairpersons are Samantha Graham-Maré, Monde Desha and Horatio Hendricks.
The position of DA youth leader in the province was uncontested. This means that current youth leader Luvo Vimbani retains his position.
Nomvano Zibonda has been elected leader of the Eastern Cape DA Women's Network.
The start of the conference on Saturday morning was delayed as a faulty generator and load shedding tripped up the process of registering voting delegates.
At the event, 329 registered delegates were invited, and of that, 297 were present. Of the 297 delegates, 293 cast their votes.
DA leader John Steenhuisen and several other senior leaders addressed the conference, which ended on Saturday.