The DA has replaced 10 of its 23 sitting Nelson Mandela Bay ward councillors on its candidate list for the November 4 local government elections.
This means almost half of its current ward representatives will not contest the wards they currently hold.
The party unveiled candidates for all 60 wards in the city on Wednesday.
DA Eastern Cape leader Andrew Whitfield said the party believed the metro was the “most fixable” in the country and could win back control.
“We have proved it, because we have won before and we will do it again,” Whitfield said.
The DA has previously been in control of the city through a coalition.
Whitfield said the new slate brought a mix of experience and new candidates, with the party deliberately seeking people with strong links to their communities.
“In terms of skills and experience, as much as we might lose a handful of people who have been public representatives before, there are also new people coming in, and they bring different experiences and different skills and different qualifications to the role,” he said.
“I think it’s a healthy renewal. I don’t think it would be healthy to have the same people cycled over and over.
“In the northern areas in particular there are several exciting candidates.
“There’s a good mix. There is experience, there are skills, there’s a healthy new energy of young, dynamic people that have come on board from different communities.”
Of the DA’s 23 present ward councillors, 13 have been selected to contest their wards again, while the remaining 10 will not be returning as candidates in those wards.
However, the outcome of the election remains uncertain, with the new candidates still having to win their wards on November 4.
“In every single election there are changes, every candidate has the opportunity to put themselves through that selection process, and performance is a big component of that,” Whitfield said.
“We have had an incredible united outcome.
“We have never put 60 ward candidates up, but I have been so encouraged by how united people have been behind other candidates.”
The DA is also predicting gains in the election, with Whitfield saying the party believed it could win at least five additional wards.
“There are at least five additional wards where we are very close, and we can take them in this election,” he said.
“If you look at how the boundaries of the wards have changed, we know we are growing in certain communities, but those boundary changes have put us into play in those five wards.
“We will hold onto what they have, but we anticipate winning five more.”
DA Eastern Cape chair Yusuf Cassim said performance played a major role in the party’s candidate-selection process.
“A unique value proposition within the DA is that in our selection process, close to 50% of the total score within the selection process is based on performance evaluations,” Cassim said.
“There is no other party that does that.
“The highest weighted component is performance evaluation, and we annually performance evaluate our sitting public representatives.”
Cassim rejected suggestions that party leaders could decide which councillors were retained or removed.
“No leader in the DA has the authority to pick and drop candidates or councillors,” he said.
“It is an objective process that is insulated from any political interference or nepotism and other negative phenomena that plague other parties’ processes.”
He said candidates had to compete through the selection process.
“The suggestion that people are dropped or not dropped or retained is actually not accurate. It is a mischaracterisation of how the DA’s process works.
“People compete in the process.”
DA Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal said ward councillors faced an increasingly difficult role in their communities.
“Being a ward councillor is one of the most difficult jobs you can find in society these days,” Odendaal said.
“Not many people would be able to survive a day with the number of queries they receive.”
Whitfield said the party was confident its candidates could help deliver on that programme.
“The next five years can be better than the last five years,” he said.
“We are putting up the biggest candidate team we have put up since 2016 to make sure that we send a positive signal to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay that we are serious about governing.”
“We are definitely going to grow our share of the wards.”
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