Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on Saturday announced plans for a major shake-up in the party as part of a ”revisioning” process.
This will include organisational restructuring and an urgent programme for more diversity in membership and leadership structures, he told about 900 delegates to the DA’s two-yearly federal congress in Durban.
Leon, who was returned unopposed as leader — a position he has held since 1994 — said the DA will review selection procedures to ensure the highest-quality candidates in all spheres of the government.
In addition, the DA has realised it will have to do more to show it cares about the everyday lives of ordinary South Africans.
”Making a difference means, first and foremost, that we must be more rooted in and more visible to all communities across South Africa,” he said.
However, he rejected suggestions that he and the party will change what some critics have called an abrasive style of opposition.
”Our object will not be to please a few persistent critics. Nor will we seek to win accolades from Tuynhuis,” he said.
”Our job is to win more votes and more support and more seats in the legislatures from the voters of South Africa. Our goal is that simple, and that big.
”And we are going to do it — vote by vote, street by street, ward by ward — until we create the mightiest political machine this country has ever seen.”
He said future generations will recognise the achievements of the DA and its predecessors over the past decade.
”But that is not enough. My friends, we are standing on the threshold of a new future … And if we do not cross that threshold, if we do not seize that future, then we will find the door of history slammed in our faces.
”To survive, we must grow. And to grow, we must change.”
He said the revisioning process began six months ago when DA members at every level as well as ”important thinkers” outside the party were asked for input.
It has resulted in a consensus on what the DA stands for and where the party should go.
He said it is important to understand that the DA is not simply a party for minorities.
It is proud to have the support of minority voters, but this does not say that the concerns of minority voters should be separate from those of other voters.
”We offer minority voters a chance to be part of something greater.”
Nor is the DA a party that pretends to be all things to all people.
”We will not become an ideological fruit salad — a dash of socialism over here, a touch of liberalism over there and a few chunks of nationalism somewhere else,” he said.
The DA stands for the cardinal principles of individual freedom and opportunity, non-racialism and diversity, effective opposition in building an alternative government.
The DA also believes, fundamentally, in non-racialism and in the value of diversity.
”And if there are people even in this party who want to play the race card, we will be just as firm against them as we are against those in other parties who do so.
”The sorry truth is that President Thabo Mbeki has made playing the race card almost respectable in South Africa.”
During the revisioning process, there was much debate as to whether the DA should project itself as an effective opposition or as an alternative government.
”I believe that it is not a case of either/or. We must be both one and the other,” Leon said. — Sapa