Party leader Geordin Hill-Lewis says the Democratic Alliance (DA) is determined to become the governing alternative in KwaZulu-Natal ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
Hill-Lewis delivered the below speech during the party’s Provincial Congress on Saturday.
Geordin Hill-Lewis speech
Colleagues, delegates, friends,
It is wonderful to be here in KwaZulu-Natal.
This is one of the most beautiful provinces in our country. It is a province of extraordinary history, deep community life, enormous economic potential, and some of the most resilient people anywhere in South Africa.
But it is also a province that knows hardship. It knows what it means when infrastructure fails. It knows what it means when criminals terrorise communities. It knows what it means when corruption hollows out public institutions. It knows what it means when people lose faith that government can work.
And that is why our work here matters so deeply.
Because the DA’s task in KwaZulu-Natal is not merely to be a strong opposition party. That matters, yes. We must expose corruption. We must hold government to account. We must fight for communities who are ignored.
But our task now is bigger than opposition.
Our task is to become the governing alternative in this province. The biggest party in this province.
A party that can win and can govern. The DA must be a party that can work with others where necessary, butnever lose itself in the process. A party that can enter complex coalition terrain and still remain principled, disciplined, and clear about what it stands for.
That is the test of KwaZulu-Natal.
And I believe the DA in KZN is ready for that test.
The date has now been set. On 4 November 2026, South Africans will vote in the local government elections.
That election will not only decide who sits in councils. It will decide whether broken municipalities continue to decline, or whether they begin to recover. It will decide whether residents get more excuses, or whether they get working streetlights, clean water, reliable refuse removal, safer communities, better roads, and municipalities that answer when people call. It will decide the direction of our country.
A country is rebuilt from the ground up. It is rebuilt in the towns, cities, villages and communities where people live their lives. It is rebuilt in our municipalities.
That is why this upcoming election matters so much.
And before we get to election day, we must first win the registration campaign.
Elections are won before a single vote is counted. When new voters register, supporters check their details, and those who have lost hope decide to show up.
Here in KZN, we must be ambitious.
We must retain and grow where we already govern. We must show that uMngeni is not an exception, but a beginning. uMngeni is proof that the DA can govern in KwaZulu-Natal and govern well. It is proof that voters here are ready to choose a different path. It is proof that where the DA is given a chance, we can bring competence, accountability and delivery.
But we must not stop there.
We must fight for Durban.
We must fight for eThekwini with everything we have.
Because Durban should be one of the great cities of Africa. It should be a city of growth, tourism, trade, port-led development, clean beaches, reliable services, safe communities, and pride.
Durban does not need another empty promise. Durban needs to move forward.
And the DA must be the party to do that.
We must say clearly to the people of eThekwini that this city can work. Your beaches can be clean, taps can run reliably and your streets can be safe.
KZN’s municipalities can serve you again.
But only if voters choose change.
Only if voters choose a party that knows how to govern.
And that is the DA.
Friends, this is the promise we must make across South Africa, we are building a DA that governs well for all.
Not for some. Not for one community. Not for one race. Not for one class. For all.
This means delivering services reliably. It means spending public money honestly. It means fixing what is broken. It means putting residents before politicians. It means clean audits, but also clean streets. It means good budgets, but also good lives. It means competent government that people can feel in their daily lives.
That is what we mean when we say we govern well for all.
But governing well is only the beginning.
We must also connect more deeply with South Africans who have never voted for us before.
We must be humble enough to know that no one owes us their vote. We must be present in communities not only during campaigns, but consistently. We must listen to people’s frustrations, their fears, their hopes and their ideas. We must speak less like politicians and more like neighbours.
The DA must be a party that is comfortable everywhere in South Africa. In suburbs and townships. In cities and rural villages. In churches, taxi ranks, farms, factories, campuses and community halls.
We must not ask people to come to us first. We must go to them.
That is especially true here in KwaZulu-Natal.
This province requires deep community work. It requires building trust street by street, ward by ward, household by household.
That is how we grow and how we win.
And when we do win, we must show strength and principle in government.
South Africans are tired of politicians who will say anything for power, and do anything to keep it. The DA must be different.
Where we govern alone, we must govern with excellence.
Where we govern in coalitions, we must be constructive, but never weak. Cooperative, but never captured. Practical, but never unprincipled.
The Provincial Government of Unity here in KwaZulu-Natal is an important test. It shows that the DA is prepared to step into difficult spaces, to take responsibility, and to contribute to stability and reform.
But let us be clear. Coalition government must never mean the surrender of DA values.
It must never mean becoming silent in the face of corruption. It must never mean protecting failure. It must never mean trading principle for position.
We are in government to serve, not to be absorbed.
We are in government to make things work, not to pretend that broken things are working.
Which is why we will not tolerate a broken police system. South Africans cannot be free if they are not safe.
A child is not free if he cannot walk to school safely. A mother is not free if she is afraid at the taxi rank. A business owner is not free if extortionists decide whether his shop may open. A family is not free if they sleep in fear.
When people give the DA their vote we will lock up the criminals in SAPS so SAPS can lock up the criminals on the street. We will nail ’em and jail ’em.
First, give capable governments investigative powers. Give us the detectives. Where local and provincial governments have the capacity and the will to fight crime, let us investigate. Let us build cases. Let us help put criminals behind bars.
Second, give us crime intelligence. You cannot beat gangs, extortion rackets and syndicates without intelligence-led policing. Information must lead to arrests. Arrests must lead to prosecutions. Prosecutions must lead to convictions.
Third, get the corrupt cops out of SAPS.
We must end SAPS capture.
Because we cannot expect SAPS to get criminals off the streets while criminals remain inside SAPS.
So let us say it plainly: get the criminals out of SAPS, so SAPS can get the criminals off the streets.
That is not anti-police. It is pro-good police.
We must clean up policing so that policing can protect the people.
Friends, this is the DA we are building.
A DA that governs well for all.
A DA that connects deeply with South Africans who have never voted for us before.
A DA that shows strength and principle in government.
A DA that restores belief that this country can work.
South Africa is not beyond saving.
Decline is not inevitable.
Failure is not our destiny.
But hope will not come from speeches alone. It will come from work.
It will come from registering voters. It will come from winning wards. It will come from fixing municipalities. It will come from clean government. It will come from brave leadership. It will come from people in this room deciding that KwaZulu-Natal can change, and then doing the hard work to make that change real.
So today, let this congress be more than an internal election.
Let it be the moment we say: we are ready to retain uMngeni, ready to fight for Durban, ready to grow in rural communities, ready to govern in coalitions without losing our principles, and ready to build towards 2029.
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