DA puts candidates through a nine-month "meritocratic process" to separate wheat from chaff

The DA's chairperson, Helen Zille, boasted that the process by which they chose candidates to represent the party on their list of public representatives for citizens in South Africa was what set them apart from other political parties.

Zille and DA leader John Steenhuisen announced the party's final candidates for Parliament and legislatures on Monday, 25 March 2024, in Johannesburg.

Zille said that for candidates to make it to the final list, they went through 11 phases of a "rigorous and meritocratic" procedure that took nine months to complete.