WATCH: DA could lead South Africa, but not under this leadership - Tara Roos, political analyst

CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit and political analyst Tara Roos discuss whether the Democratic Alliance (DA) could ever become the biggest political party in South Africa.

Watch below:

The DA has been the dominant party in the Western Cape for 16 years, but struggles to gather the same support in the rest of South Africa.

In the 2024 National Elections, the DA received a little over 20% of the vote, which seems to be their ceiling so far in terms of election performance.

Despite this, the party often expresses the belief that it could become the dominant party in South Africa.

However, Roos believes that at this stage, the DA has failed to build enough support to do this, largely because it has a likability problem.

She adds that this is especially damaging for the party in the era of coalitions.

“I think they isolate a lot of people that should be their allies in favour of putting themselves on a pedestal.”

– Tara Roos, political analyst

“People do not vote for the DA because they like the DA… A large percentage of the voter base votes for the DA because they are the second-largest political party.”

- Tara Roos, political analyst

To boost their performance, she says the DA would need to have a major leadership restructure to appeal to more of the population.

“Is there a reality where the DA could overtake the ANC? Yes, but I think it would need to be under a completely different set of new leaders.”

- Tara Roos, political analyst

“I say this time and time again, John Steenhuisen is done.”

- Tara Roos, political analyst

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She says she could see Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis becoming the next leader of the DA, and that he would be a better option than Steenhuisen to bring the party forward.

“He has more followers on Instagram than the DA itself. People love Geordin Hill-Lewis… People vote blue because they love Geordin, not because they love John.” 

- Tara Roos, political analyst

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