4 candidates vie for DA job

Four DA councillors will go head-to-head for the top position in the party’s women’s wing, the DA Women’s Network.

The organisation will be convening its provincial elective congress on March 17, when 60 delegates converge at the Wesley Hall in Komani.

Georgina Faldtman, Sandra Fillis, Chantel King and Koleka Ngumbela each hope to be elected as provincial leader. Provincial organiser Elmarie Botha said the party was ready to host the congress and that all the necessary steps had been taken to ensure that the event is fair and all constituencies are represented.

“We are now in the process of verification of the delegates that were nominated at all the branches. We have also received four nominations for the chairperson positions and two for deputy position,” said Botha.

King, a former John Bisseker High School teacher and DA MP, said she was honoured to have been nominated to drive the women agenda.

She was a councillor at Buffalo City Metro, serving on the finance portfolio committee before becoming an MP in November 2016.

In parliament she served on the portfolio committee on science and technology. “It has been no secret that I wanted to stand as chairwoman for the simple reason that I want to drive women’s issues.

“The DA needs to take women’s issues more seriously,” she said.

King will go up against three councillors from Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.

Ngumbela, who has been with the DA since 2011, is COPE’s former provincial communications officer and a former principal at Ben Nyathi Primary School.

“I am a feminist and I believe I am fit for this purpose. I believe women are influential and that if given the opportunity they can achieve great things,” said Ngumbela.

Fillis said if elected she would ensure that all women in the province, as well as South Africa, enjoy equality.

“I intend on making frequent visits to the rural areas where most of the poorest of the poor live to familiarise myself more with the circumstances and living conditions of the women and children in this areas,” said Fillis.

Faldtman could not be reached for comment at the time of writing yesterday.

The successful Eastern Cape candidate will represent the province at the network’s national congress, which will take place in Tshwane on April 6, just a day before the mother DA body elects its national leadership.

Botha said the network’s Eastern Cape congress, a one-day event, would host the newly-elected Mpumalanga provincial leader Jane Sithole.

“We have invited some of our women from other provinces to be part of our congress,” she said.