2023 DA Federal Congress: Media Information Pack

Dear Media Colleagues,

Welcome to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Federal Congress 2023.

Thank you for choosing to be part of this historic event as the Party embarks on its biggest federal congress to date.

This virtual Journalist Information Pack contains important information to assist in reporting on the 2023 DA Federal Congress.

This Information Pack may provide clarity on the content or processes of Federal Congress, and for further detail please get in touch with us by using the contact details provided at the end of the pack.

The media pack has information on the following:

• Congress Programme
• Candidates
• Media Room
• Live-streams of Congress
• How Voting Works
• Congress Spokespeople and Staff


Programme


*All times are approximate and subject to change.


Saturday 1 April 2023


07h30 – 08h45

  • All delegates to be seated. Doors close at 08h30.

08h45

  • Start of stage programme

08h45 – 13h30

  • Congress Opening Ceremony
  • Provincial roll-call
  • National Anthem
  • Constitutional Amendments Session 1

14h30 – 16h45

  • Speeches by candidates for Federal Leader
  • Constitutional Amendments Session 2
  • Constitutional Amendments Session 3


Sunday 2 April 2023


07h45

  • All delegates to be seated

08h00 – 14h00

  • Opening of Day 2
  • Operational Reports (closed session)
  • Resolutions Session 1
  • Address by incumbent Federal Leader
  • Resolutions Session 2
  • Congress Awards

14h00

  • Election results announcement
  • Acceptance speech by elected Federal Leader

15h00

  • Closing of 2023 DA Federal Congress

15h30

  • Media briefing with newly elected leadership


Candidates


Media Room


Accredited media will have access to the Media Room at Gallagher Estate from Saturday 1 April at 6am.

Here DA media support staff will be at hand to process any and all media queries or requests. 

Congress spokespeople will also provide regular updates in the Media Room on the deliberations and outcomes on key constitutional amendments and resolutions. 

The scheduling of these briefings will be done on an ad hoc basis and will be announced on short notice. 


Live Stream of Congress


To receive a link to high-quality, clean live feed, please contact Bongisa Mhaga on 061 109 2590.


How Voting Works


Two kinds of voting will happen at the 2023 DA Federal Congress. Delegates will elect the new leadership of the Party, and they will also vote on Constitutional Amendments and Resolutions.

The leadership election takes place through an online voting platform called OpaVote. Early on Sunday morning, each delegate will receive a personal voting code by SMS (sent to the cell phone number which they will have confirmed during registration on Saturday).

This code gives them access to a ballot webpage which they can access on their own phone or laptop, or on computers which will be provided at the venue. On this ballot page the delegate indicates their choices for leadership.

The voting is anonymous: when the ballot is recorded, it is not connected to the voting code which the voter used. It is not possible to find out how any individual delegate voted.

In the contests with only two candidates, the delegates simply vote for one candidate, and the candidate with a majority of votes wins.

In the contests with more than two candidates, the delegates must rank the candidates from first choice to last choice. The winner is determined by the single transferable vote (STV) counting system.

During the Congress session on Saturday, delegates will vote on amendments to the Party’s constitution, which have already been debated in an online meeting.

During the Sunday session they will debate and vote on resolutions on Party policy. These are simple yes/no votes, with a two-thirds majority required to pass constitutional amendments, and a 50% majority to pass resolutions.

This voting will be conducted using wireless handheld voting devices. Each delegate will receive a voting device at registration. When voting takes place during the session, the delegates will press “1” to vote “Yes” or “2” to vote “No”. The count of yeses and noes will be transmitted immediately to the person chairing the session, who will announce the result to Congress.

Both voting processes will be facilitated by the DA’s professional staff, overseen by a team of independent auditors.


Congress Spokespeople and Staff


Official Congress spokespeople:

Siviwe Gwarube MP (076 055 6280)

Werner Horn MP (083 262 2864)

Official Congress WhatsApp group:

Contact Charity McCord (078 126 2765) or Norman Silke (083 271 1811) to be added and to make media queries.

Media support staff:

Ryan Smith: Congress communications manager (072 385 1918)

Eldé Muller: Media Room manager, WhatsApp group manager and broadcast coordinator on the Congress floor (076 475 6261)

Dominique Jeftha: Co-manager of the Media Room and WhatsApp group, and broadcast coordinator on the Congress floor (066 216 6400)

Charity McCord: Overall media queries and interview coordinator (078 126 2765)

Bongisa Mhaga: Broadcast coordinator on the Congress floor (061 109 2590)

Norman Silke: Print, online and radio coordinator (083 271 1811)