Zille rules out standing for another term as DA's Federal Council chair

The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Federal Council chairperson, Helen Zille, has ruled out standing for another term at the helm of the party’s administration when it chooses new leaders at its national conference scheduled for April.

She also appears reluctant to immediately take up a vacant seat in the Johannesburg City Council, as has been intimated in recent weeks.

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With her focus firmly on the mayoralty of the city, Zille said she has enough on her plate and won’t be seeking re-election within the party structures.

The iron lady of DA politics said she’s done her time within party structures and has set it up to be a well-functioning organisation.

She will, thus, be looking to hand over the reins of the party’s federal council to a new leader in a few months and throw herself completely into her electoral campaign for the Johannesburg mayorship.

“I’ve done what I had to do there, and I feel that my job is now to try and help fix local government, because South Africa can’t succeed unless our metros are functional.”

While it’s been suggested that Zille could be joining the Johannesburg City Council in a few weeks already, she appears less hasty to do so and said she’s not keen on juggling multiple jobs.

“When I’m not the chair of Federal Council, then I think it makes sense to join the Joburg City Council.”

Zille said that if her mayoral campaign fails, she would choose more family time over extending her political career.