The DA is pulling out all the stops to dislodge the ANC from the all-important metro councils at next year's local elections.

DA outgoing leader Helen Zille today made it clear that her party was targeting the Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape, the City of Johannesburg and Tshwane in Gauteng – municipalities where the ANC performed poorly during last year's general elections.

“What a triumph for our democracy it would be if this Metro, named after the father of our nation, Nelson Mandela, were to emerge from the 2016 local elections with a DA-led government. That tribute to the world’s most revered leader is within our reach,” she said.

“We know how hard we are going to have to work for every single vote. We never take our voters for granted, not those who have always voted for us, nor those who are considering voting for us for the first time,” he added.

Zille was speaking at the party's elective congress in Port Elizabeth, where more than 1200 delegates are gathered to elect new leaders.

Zille's announcement to step down triggered a succession battle in the party, pitting DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane and the current chairman Wilmot James.

Delegates will cast their votes tomorrow morning, with Maimane as the favourite to replace Zille in a development that will see the official opposition making history by electing its first black leader.