The Democratic Alliance held its 6th Federal Congress in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape from 9 May to 10 May 2015. After incumbent leader

Helen Zille Otta Helene Maree (''née'' Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she w ...

announced she would not seek reelection, the Congress became focused on the contest to succeed her.

Election for Party Leader

Helen Zille announced on 12 April 2015 that she would not run for re-election to another term as leader of the party. She said that she would remain as Premier of the Western Cape until her term expires in 2019. Many senior Democratic Alliance politicians names were touted as possible successors to Zille, such as Member of Parliament David Maynier, Parliamentary Leader

Mmusi Maimane Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and Leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political ...

, Federal Chairperson

Wilmot James Wilmot Godfrey James (born 5 July 1953) is a South African academic who served as the country's opposition spokesperson of health and Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance. His constituencies were Mitchells Plain and Rondeb ...

, National Assembly Chief Whip John Steenhuisen, Gauteng Provincial Leader John Moodey, Eastern Cape Provincial leader Athol Trollip, Deputy Federal Chairperson Makashule Gana, Mayor of Cape Town

Patricia de Lille Patricia de Lille (née Lindt; born 17 February 1951) is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the political party Good. She was previously Mayor of Cape Town from 2011 to 2018, ...

and former Parliamentary Leader Lindiwe Mazibuko. When the nominations deadline had passed, four candidates for the leadership had been put forward: Federal Chairperson

, Parliamentary Leader

and party members Adrian Naidoo and Morgan Oliphant. In the month leading to the vote, the two leading candidates, James and Maimane, traded barbs over issues such party democracy, transparency, and who would be most successful in challenging the ruling

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

. The two candidates addressed the provincial party congress in KwaZulu-Natal where James challenged Mamaine to a series of debates. Continuing his criticism of Maimane's commitment to intra-party democracy and transparency, James released his list of donors in the last week of the campaign and called on his rival to do the same. On May 10, following a vote by party delegates, outgoing leader Helen Zille declared Mamaine as the duly elected leader of the Democratic Alliance. 93% of delegates voted in the leadership race. According to his campaign, Maimane won with 90% of the vote. He was the first black South African to lead the party, as he resigned in October 2019.

Other Internal Party Elections

Eastern Cape Provincial Leader Athol Trollip was elected as Federal Chairperson after he defeated Makashule Gana and

Masizole Mnqasela Masizole Mnqasela (born 1 March 1981) is a South African politician, formerly the 7th Speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He was previously a Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Democratic Alliance fro ...

. James Selfe was re-elected unopposed as Chairperson of the Federal Council. Alf Lees defeated Dirk Stubbe and Andricus Van der Westhuizen in the election to become Federal Finance Chairperson. Thomas Walters defeated Anthony Benadie and Adrian Naidoo and was subsequently elected Deputy Chairperson of the Federal Council. Ivan Meyer, Refiloe Nt'sekhe and Désirée van der Walt were elected as first, second, and third Deputy Federal Chairpersons respectively.

References

{{Democratic Alliance (South Africa) Politics of South Africa Democratic Alliance (South Africa) 2015 conferences Political party assemblies