By: Matshidiso Selebeleng

As the race continues to lead to the 2026 local government elections, the Democratic Alliance held the DA Free State Provincial Congress at Mangaung City Hall on Saturday.

This as the parties are spreading all over the country in a bid to garner the votes and emerge victorious on the day of elections.

The congress was attended by leaders from provinces such as Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, some of the provinces where the DA is doing well.

In his key address, the DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen said that the DA is the right party to lead because they are moving in the right direction in all aspects, including jobs, economy, and BEE, among others.

“We know as well that the right thing to do in this elections is in places like the Free State to bring an end to the occupation of City Halls and Town Halls across the length and breadth of this province where the people seating in those positions do not care about the people of the Free State,” he said.

Adding that the right thing to do is to get them out of office, get the DA into the office, and put the right people in the right jobs for the right reasons.

Steenhuisen also said that as the DA they know how to run the municipalities right because they have done it with municipalities such as Umdeni municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, Midvaal in Gauteng and with the City of Cape Town in Western Cape among others.

He said that even though the history of this province is a painful one, it reminds every one of the importance of sacrifice, courage, determination, and the need to respect each other and embrace diversity which is what makes the DA strong and ready to win the fight.

Steenhuisen stressed that as a party, they don’t need to only keep the flame of hope for change alive, but to demonstrate to the voters and to South Africans that a better future is waiting for them if they vote for it.

“Free State is a province of enormous potential, but realizing that potential means more than just getting municipalities working, it rests on competition and viable political alternatives,” he shared.

According to Steenhuisen, they rescued the country from the claws of political parties and the government that were going to take it back to the stone age, a promise they made about 18 months ago during the Rescue South Africa Tour.

“If we truly want to liberate South Africa we need to get hold of local government, because it’s local government that put water in the taps, put electricity in the homes, responsible for the roads that gets you to and from work, and makes sure there’s proper sewerage and reticulation,” said Steenhuisen.

He further added the DA’s mission in the Free State is to reduce the ANC’s majority in Municipalities below 50% and the DA to become the largest party in those municipalities.

During this congress Roy Jankielsohn was also reelected as the Free State Provincial Leader.