The DA leader in the Buffalo City Metro council, Sue Bentley, is set to leave the city to become a member of the provincial legislature if her party performs well in the upcoming provincial and national elections.
It was revealed this week that Bentley features high on the DA list of candidates earmarked to become members of the Eastern Cape provincial legislature.
Bentley is at number 12 on the list, which means she is in an electable position.
The DA has 10 members in the legislature but its provincial leader, Andrew Whitfield, believes the party will increase its voter support in the May 29 elections.
Whitfield is also betting on the fact that the number of seats in the legislature is due to be increased from 63 to 72.
He said if the party got the same number of votes in the province as it did in the 2019 election it would be guaranteed 11 seats but he was confident it would increase its voter support.
Bentley has served as a councillor in BCM since 2012.
She was previously a teacher and worked at Cambridge High School as well as Union High School in Graaff-Reinet.
Bentley told the Daily Dispatch she believed she was ready for the new challenge.
“I am delighted that I am in an electable position because I feel that I am ready to get my teeth into a new challenge,” she said.
She said she joined the DA because she did not want her son to have to leave the country to get opportunities.
Bentley said she believed she had made a difference during her time as a councillor in BCM “on a larger scale as well as to many people’s lives that I have been able to assist in my role as a councillor”.
“The tough thing is the country is in a worse position than it was in when I got involved but I am just passionate about making the country work again for everybody, so that’s why I do what I do.”
She said if she was elected to the legislature she would prefer to play a role in the areas of social development and the environment.
“I have a heart for people and people who are on the edges ... [social development] is a dysfunctional ministry at this stage,” she said.
Whitfield said Bentley was “electable” and was a hardworking councillor and loyal member of the party.
“We are really happy she has put her hat in the ring,” he said.
Another prominent DA member on the list for the provincial legislature is MP Chantel King.
King is at number 10 on the list and is almost guaranteed a seat.
“We have got a very diverse, very competent and qualified team of public representatives,” Whitfield said.
He said key areas where the party believed it would get the most votes in the province were Nelson Mandela Bay, BCM and the Kouga municipality
But he said the DA would also be targeting small Eastern Cape towns which were now “broken”.
“We are confident that we are going to grow, we are confident that people are going to put their support behind the DA, certainly in more numbers than previous elections,” he said.
The top three candidates on the party’s provincial list are Eastern Cape chair Yusuf Cassim, Jane Cowley and Retief Odendaal.
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