-
DA’s Leon Schreiber speaking at the party’s Federal Congress in Johannesburg, 11 April 2026.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Leon Schreiber says that the party’s role in the Government of National Unity (GNU) is to help fix problems. He says these include service delivery issues in municipalities.
Schreiber was addressing over 2 000 delegates at the DA’s Federal Congress at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, on Saturday.
“The DA’s work in the GNU across the six portfolios that we manage proves that this party can fix what is seemingly unfixable. What we are doing is state building out of the ashes of state capture. Do if you live in a broken municipality and if you thought your community’s problems were unfixable; I am here to deliver a message of hope to you for the first time in our country’s democracy, there is a party that has demonstrated at municipal, provincial and now at national level that it can fix the problems that others created and have long since given up on,” adds Schreiber.
Related video| Party aims to sharpen its policy position in the GNU
🚀 Big moments are set to unfold at the #DAcongress2026!
SA deserves a government that works. We’re here to elect new leaders that will reshape the party’s future and get SA working. Watch the key speeches from the DA’s Dr Leon Schreiber and Jane Sithole. pic.twitter.com/XoDQmiFUvy
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 11, 2026
‘Compassionate leadership’
Basic Education Minister and DA member Siviwe Gwarube has emphasised the need for compassionate leadership and meaningful engagement with communities as she’s vying for the position of the DA’s Federal Deputy Chairperson.
She adds that political change is not automatic and that winning the trust of South Africans, particularly in rural areas, requires listening, understanding and clearly communicating what real change looks like.
“I think, again, it goes back to what I was talking about – that compassion. Understanding that simply because people have stopped voting for the ANC, it’s not an automatic choice that they’re going to automatically vote for you. So, we’ve got to find ways in saying, while you may have given up on the ANC to bring about the change that you want, what is it that we are offering activists to break down simple meet to Ogogo from the rural areas? And so, they may be obvious, the conversation in the party that we need to have, at a leadership level, but also at a rural structure level.”
