DA Congress 2026 — can the party articulate a clear message about race?

The latest publicly available polling shows how our politics is beginning to change fundamentally. According to the Social Research Foundation, the ANC is currently supported by 39% of voters (roughly where it was in the 2024 elections) while the DA has moved up to 28%.

Interestingly, smaller parties, like the EFF and MK, appear to be losing momentum, as Julius Malema’s treatment of anyone who challenges him, and Jacob Zuma’s general leadership, take their toll.

Presumably, in major metros such as Joburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, the ANC will be polling significantly lower and the DA possibly much higher.

This reveals the possible size of the opportunity for the DA right now. Its ministers have, generally speaking, shown themselves to be competent in the national government, particularly in departments such as Home Affairs and Basic Education.

The DA may well believe that there is both a sense of momentum and a major opportunity to govern more metros.

It is a mark of the difference between the ANC and the DA that while ANC conferences are generally marked by divisions, fights and so often delays (and as this week’s ANC Eastern Cape conference reminds us, court cases), the DA’s gatherings tend to run precisely on time.

The DA would no doubt argue that this difference is reflected in its style of governance, where the ANC’s rule in Joburg and many other places has been chaotic.

Younger, more diverse

It is clear that major change is coming to the party’s leadership structures.

While the party’s Sedibeng District Municipality caucus leader Sibusiso Dyonase is challenging Geordin Hill-Lewis for the position of national leader, the event will really be a coronation for the vastly experienced and yet still young Cape Town mayor.

Looking at the positions below that and the incoming change reveals itself.

Currently, seven of the 11 people in the leadership structure are white. While they were elected by congress delegates who were overwhelmingly black, coloured or Indian, the fact is that racial identity matters in our politics, particularly for the DA.

This will probably change significantly as several of the positions are not being contested by white people.

Also, many of the candidates are much younger than the people they will replace. While the age gap may not be that significant, there can be a vast difference between people who finished school during apartheid and people who started school after apartheid.

This change might well allow the DA to argue more convincingly that it is a fully diverse party, and that this diversity is properly reflected in its leadership.

It also seems it will have more age diversity than parties such as the ANC and MK, which are dominated by people who are much older. This might help the party appeal to younger people.

The coalition non-debate

Interestingly, there appears to be no public discussion ahead of the party’s congress, set for 11-12 April, about its involvement in the national coalition with the ANC.

In normal times, this would be the major point of discussion. And, if there are tensions in the party on the issue, that would be the one possible point that could lead to huge division.

But it appears the DA has already been able to convince candidates standing for election that they must not let this happen.

There is an illuminating comment by Dyonase in an interview with News 24 when he is asked about the DA’s involvement in the national coalition.

“Oh, that’s an unfair question, I think,” he said.

While he may feel that, frankly, it is the only question that matters. It is not clear if he genuinely does not want to talk about the issue, or has been told by the party’s machinery to keep a lid on it.

However, it is also entirely in keeping with DA tradition relating to internal elections. It’s almost always been able to avoid damaging public fights on difficult issues.

Race for 2026

The DA and those who emerge as its new leaders might well need to consider a much more important aim. Now that local elections are just months away, this congress must be used for campaigning.

The DA’s last congress, in 2023, is not now remembered for the re-election of Steenhuisen (and who can remember who ran against him?).

Rather, it is remembered for what happened immediately afterwards. He used his carefully crafted victory speech to announce his intention to create a “moonshot pact”, a group of parties that would together contest the ANC.

While the pact did not result in the parties involved working together in government, it helped to prepare the ground for the coalition we have now. Certainly, it prepared the public for coalition government and the idea that the DA would play a big role in it.

Hill-Lewis will obviously use his speech to campaign. But it will be much more memorable if he can articulate a clear message about race.

While the DA and many others might want to believe that race doesn’t matter, or shouldn’t matter in our politics, the fact is, it does. The ANC and others are likely to want to use the issue against the DA, to argue that it is still a “white party”.

The DA has occasionally shown itself not to have a clear vision on this. At one point, it embraced the idea of crowning Mmusi Maimane as its leader, only for a former leader (Tony Leon) to then claim that it was an “experiment”. It has also sometimes been slightly muddled on the question of whether race is a proxy for disadvantage.

At the same time, Hill-Lewis, despite being in public life for many years, has hardly ever spoken publicly about race. He will now have an opportunity to articulate his own vision, to bring clarity to this issue.

Of course, he may choose not to. But if the DA can somehow change the way many voters perceive it because of race, it would remove a possible barrier that prevents many former ANC voters from supporting it.

This also goes to a more complicated question of whether he will continue the current DA strategy of catering to minorities and thus retaining their strong support, or will go back to the Maimane era when the party tried to broaden its appeal.

This congress provides opportunities too big for the DA to ignore. It could mark the start of a genuine new era for the party.

The party is now in a position where it is almost poised for electoral growth. But its leaders will need to follow through if they are to have a genuine breakthrough. DM