Chris Pappas, the mayor of uMngeni, has been announced as the DA’s premier candidate for KwaZulu-Natal, ahead of next year’s national and provincial election.
Pappas, a fluent Zulu speaker, became the first DA mayor in KwaZulu-Natal when the party won a majority in uMngeni in the 2021 local government elections. Pappas has previously been a member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature and a councillor in eThekwini.
He was also elected as the party’s deputy leader in KwaZulu-Natal in 2021.
In his acceptance speech Pappas said: ‘They said it was impossible for the DA to govern and we did it in Cape Town. They said it would be impossible to govern outside of Cape Town and we took the Western Cape. They said that the DA would be a regional party. We now run 36 municipalities across South Africa with the top five best-run municipalities being run by the DA. And, they said it would be impossible for the DA to win in KZN. Today the DA in the uMngeni Municipality is working hard to turn things around and deliver on our promises. There is still a long way to go to undo 27 years of corruption and cadre deployment but, through hard work, and hope, the DA together with the courageous men and women who chose hope, we rescued uMngeni.’
The DA and its partners in the Multi-Party Charter will have an uphill battle to win KwaZulu-Natal in next year’s election.
In 2019 the ANC won 54% of the vote. The IFP was the second-biggest party with 16%, while the DA managed 14%.
The EFF won just under 10% of the vote.
The DA has announced premier candidates in a number of provinces. In the Western Cape it said that incumbent Alan Winde would be its candidate in the province next year. It also announced Roy Jankielsohn as its premier candidate in the Free State, and Isak Fritz in the Northern Cape.
Candidates for premier in other provinces are expected to be announced in the next few weeks.
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