DA's Solly Msimanga has that winning feeling of 2016 local government elections

08 May 2019 - 11:07
By Isaac Mahlangu
DA Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga speaks to the media alongside party leader Mmusi Maimane on wednesday.
Image: Kgothatso Maimane. DA Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga speaks to the media alongside party leader Mmusi Maimane on wednesday.

DA Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga says he has the same feeling he had in 2016 during the local government elections. 

Before casting his vote in Capital Park, Pretoria, on Wednesday, Msimanga who was together with his wife, Monde, and party leader Mmusi Maimane, seemed in high spirits.

At one stage he joked, referring to himself as "an incoming Gauteng premier", to an ANC volunteer as he queued up to vote.

When asked how he was feeling, Msimanga responded: "I've got the same feeling I had in 2016; more than anything I'm tired."

He said their campaign for the province was long and very demanding.

The 2016 municipal elections saw Msimanga becoming Tshwane mayor in a DA-led coalition, after the ANC failed to get an outright win for the first time in the capital.

Although hoping for more or less the same result at this year's national polls, Msimanga said they've learnt a lot from coalition governments they've been part of.

"You can't have coalitions that work when you're half in and half out; if you want decisions to be made you need to be part of those decisions," he said.