With just days to go until the Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape elects its new leader, Andrew Whitfield — who is viewed as the top contender for the position — believes that the party could shift the needle for the ANC’s support in the province.
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With just days to go until the Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape elects its new leader, Andrew Whitfield — who is viewed as the top contender for the position — believes that the party could shift the needle for the ANC’s support in the province.
Whitfield is hoping to take over from outgoing Eastern Cape DA leader Nqaba Bhanga, who has ambitions of being elected into the party’s national structures.
The DA is expecting to host 370 delegates in Graaff-Reinet this weekend, with Whitfield and Chantel King vying for the post of provincial leader. King is a former Buffalo City councillor and a member of parliament.
As the current Eastern Cape chairperson, Whitfield is considered a party veteran, having led alongside the likes of Athol Trollip, the former Eastern Cape chair who went up against Helen Zille for federal council chair in 2020.
In an interview with Mail & Guardian, Whitfield said he intends to place his focus on the massive rural support in the province, where the ANC currently holds a two-thirds majority.
The Eastern Cape under ANC chairperson Oscar Mabuyane has been an anchor of support for the ruling party, which is expected to see its share of the vote dip below 50% in the 2024 election.
The ANC has been seen as regressing into a rural party after failing to retain control of metros in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
But even as the ANC has lost its prestige, the DA has also incurred massive losses since peaking in 2016.
In the Eastern Cape, the DA dropped from 16.20% to 15.73 % in the 2019 election, but managed to retain its 10 seats.
With what he calls a more stable DA, Whitfield believes he has the right skills and experience to help the party find its growth path.
“We are very aware that the Eastern Cape is the ANC’s strongest hold. This is where they are most resilient, predominantly, and almost entirely, because of the massive rural support,” he said, adding that the DA had made inroads in the western regions of the province, with the hope of moving into the east.
“I want to be the leader that effectively communicates that we care as much about the water crisis and Nelson Mandela Bay as we do the water crisis in Amathole district. I think that this is probably an area that we’ve not succeeded in overcoming the narrative that works against the DA … It’s a cultural transition that the party needs to make in the Eastern Cape. The party that says that we care, we must make people feel that we really do care.”
Whitfield said the DA needed to close the gap between itself and rural Eastern Cape communities, adding that the party had developed a strategy to disrupt some of the ANC areas.
“I think that we need to be less technical and more caring.”
He told M&G that the party’s mission for the general election was to bring the ANC’s Eastern Cape support below 60%, a milestone he said would cripple the ANC nationally.
“That’s got to be the mission and I’ve set that as a mission, not just for 2024 but beyond, so towards 2026. We are then able to disrupt the national electoral support, because they rely so heavily on the Eastern Cape. So we are trying to bring them down as close to the present as possible in preparing for 2026, to bring them under 60% of the vote in those municipal elections,” Whitfield said.
One reason behind the DA’s paralysis in the province has been its reputation as a party for minorities. Bhanga was expected to separate the party from this image and usher in a new voting block.
The DA has in the past also recruited influential political figures in the Eastern Cape to try and draw in voters. These included AbaThembu king Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo and former premier Nosimo Balindlela.
While Whitfield downplayed the issue of race within the DA, most of its prominent black leaders have left the party, keeping the subject in focus.
To take away support from the ANC, Whitfield will have to connect with the province’s majority Xhosa-speaking people. Conceding this, he said that while as a chairperson he was clinical about running the organisation, as a leader, he would need to be able to communicate authentically that he cared about the issues facing communities.
“I don’t see that as a challenge. I see that as a huge opportunity, because I know that I care deeply. I now have the opportunity to demonstrate that and to overcome this perception that you’re white … We have a very diverse and capable team,” Whitfield said.
“We need to be able to communicate with communities, liaise with them, deliver and follow up on those deliverables. How do we make sure that our existing boots on the ground are permanently rooted on the ground and use every DA strength from local to national to be able to escalate those issues? Focusing on getting more from the boots on the ground … I think we can work harder than ever before, not just for 2024 but beyond. Even if we do have a new government, it is going to require extraordinary work.”
The DA is also gearing up for its national election set to take place in April. Incumbent leader John Steenhuisen is poised to retain his position as no provincial leaders have yet endorsed his contender, Mpho Phalatse.
While Whitfield was silent on whether he would support Steenhuisen, he said that the party was now stable under the current leadership, adding that it had a very good launch pad from which to achieve even better results in the Eastern Cape.
“So there’s something that’s happening that is positive for us. I think that’s going to help us not only to bring the ANC down, but to bring our support back up from 15.9% closer, hopefully to 18%,” he said.
“Ultimately what we want to do is to improve our strategy in rural communities where there is opportunity for growth, and then continue to work really hard in the areas where we have lost support in urban communities.
“We are doing that, getting back to the basics of engaging with our voters and trying to overcome any issues we have had in the past. There certainly seems to be a positive within ourselves.”
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