I thought this race was over before it even started.
When it emerged that Geordin Hill-Lewis would run for DA leader, it felt settled. He was the frontrunner.
His candidacy was fashioned as the safe pair of hands to take over from John Steenhuisen.
It seemed obvious that he would be he leader candidate the party could rally behind without much friction.
Then we learnt on Tuesday that Sibusiso Dyonase decided to run.
Dyonase is 33 councillor and Sedibeng caucus leader.
He is definitely not a household name and an unknown in the party.
But when I asked him why would he bother with a race he is likely to lose, he said that he read that Hill-Lewis might go uncontested, and that was enough.
“I believe in democracy, and I believe if we are going to have very important elections like the Federal Congress, the delegates in the Federal Congress needs to also have their choices, and they need to be afforded the chance to make a different choice than the one that is normally usual. I believe good contestation is very important to show democracy and to show that, we actually push open opportunity society for all. Because I believe that the general rules of the Congress is that every member can put in their nomination. And I believe I’m a member in good standing, and I have been tested in my leadership skills, and I’ve been practicing my leadership skills for a very long time,” he said.
Dyonase story is not the usual one. He joined the DA at 19, straight out of matric, because he couldn’t afford to study further.
It started as something to do. It became something more as over time, he found alignment with the party’s values and stayed.
He has spent most of that time on the ground as an activist.
“I think I have time, I have spirit, and I actually have a great amount of dedication and with a great amount and an open space to actually learn for further and sharpen my abilities in becoming the leader of the Democratic Alliance. I know it’s not gonna be a simple task. I’m going to have to commit myself hundred percent to the job,” Dyonase said of why he thinks he is best positioned for the party.
That is the case he is making now. That the party should not only be led from the top, but also shaped by those who have built it from below.
Let’s be honest. is still the favourite. He has been mayor of Cape Town since 2021.
He has the profile and the backing. Most analysts see this as his race but Dyonase’s entry shifts the conversation.
It forces a contest where there might not have been one.
It also puts the idea of internal democracy under the spotlight.
Dyonase is not naïve about the scale of the task.
So what is he really after?
He says it is not just about winning. In a party that often speaks about democracy, that might be the point.
