Solly Msimanga, federal chairman of the DA. (Photo: DA/X)
The ANC says it wants to appoint the “best of the best” as mayoral candidates in the run-up to the 2026 municipal elections.
The DA says he has been doing this for a long time.
“The Democratic Alliance is the only political party that can say months in advance what we propose,” Solly Msimanga, newly elected federal chairman of the DA, said on Tuesday before the party named 11 more of its mayoral candidates.
“We’re not afraid to put our best out there and let them be scrutinized.”
The DA announced a third group of Western Cape mayoral candidates on Tuesday. This group represents, among others, the Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Overstrand and George municipalities and the Garden Route district municipality.
This is what the DA’s mayoral candidates look like:
- Bitou: Jessica Kamkam
- mountain river: Mario Wessels
- Cape Agulhas: Raymond Ross
- Drakenstein:Stephen Korabie
- Garden Route District: Marais Kruger
- George: Browen Johnson
- Matzikama: Richard van Huyssteen
- Stranded: Clinton Lerm
- Swartland: Harold Cleophas
- Stellenbosch: Jeremy Fasser
- Witzenberg: Trevor Abrahams
Tertuis Simmers, DA leader in the Western Cape, gave his assurance with the announcement on Tuesday that these candidates had all gone through the strictest possible selection process.
Geordin-Hill Lewis, the party’s newly elected federal leader, also assured residents that a strict and thorough selection process was followed.
“We are not here to announce the names of people we have chosen because we know them or because they are our friends. They have not given us anything. They are not people who have shown us favors or will do so,” emphasized the DA’s new leader.
“These names are the outcome of an institutional process that has been built up in the party over many years.
“Each of these candidates went through a series of interviews before electoral colleges and selection panels. They took tests and they emerged as the candidates with the highest marks.
“We are not a party of patronage. We are a party of proper institutions that deliver better government over time.”
Geordin Hill-Lewis, federal leader of the DA. (Photo: DA/X)
Hill-Lewis pointed out that if everyone in the room agreed that the point of politics is to govern well, “then of all the political parties on the ballot we are the one party that can rightfully claim that mantle – that we deliver the best government in South Africa”.
Hill-Lewis believes that of all the parties that participate in municipal elections “there is one clear trend that emerges and that is where this political party (DA) is elected, things start to get better”.
“Things are starting to work. People are starting to get jobs. The economy is starting to grow. People are getting more dignified basic services. This is why we are here. This is why this party exists.
“All of us in this room serve something much better than ourselves. We serve the idea of building a successful South Africa – to make our country work. This is why we are in politics,” Hill-Lewis said on Tuesday.
‘Local government is personal’
Simmers believes local government is personal.
“This is where water must flow when you open the tap, your street lights must work and where your garbage must be removed regularly and where your family feels safe in their own home. This is the impact of the leadership that leads a municipality.”
Simmers believes that South Africans know all too well by now that where communities fail, people suffer.
“In the Western Cape, a number of municipalities are blessed to know that where and when the DA governs, things ultimately work for all our people.
“Our provincial and municipal roads are maintained, we ensure that our water flows in all 30 municipalities and we are constantly upgrading and maintaining our infrastructure.
Tertuis Simmers, DA leader in the Western Cape. (Photo: DA/X)
“In the Western Cape, communities feel what they are voting for. This is because of the quality of mayors who lead our caucuses,” Simmers said on Tuesday when announcing more Western Cape mayoral candidates.
“These candidates know that public office is not a prize. It is an enormous responsibility.
“They know that they have to know their communities from street to street, ward to ward, household to household. These are leaders who I believe will wake up every day and ask one simple question: How do we make life better for the people for whom we were elected? Our candidates are not chosen to deliver speeches. Not at all,” assured Simmers.
“They are chosen to fix what needs to be fixed and to maintain what needs to be maintained.”
Msimanga, for his part, said local government is where the shoe hits the tar. “If we don’t get things right at a local level, we fail.
“The DA is about getting it right and ultimately making sure that we provide better services and can offer a better life to our people.”
Another 11 DA mayoral candidates were named on Tuesday. (Photo: DA/X)
✅???? The DA Western Cape presents the Mayoral Candidates announced so far.
This strong group of candidates will fix where we don’t govern and deliver even more where we do govern. #VoteDA pic.twitter.com/gF12s2UexB
— DA Western Cape (@WesternCapeDA) April 21, 2026