Theo Venter: DA’s Mayoral Candidate for JB Marks

Professor Theo Venter was named as the DA’s mayoral candidate in the JB Marks Municipality.

• The DA announced Professor Theo Venter as its mayoral candidate for the JB Marks Municipality.
• Venter, an academic and political analyst, aims to address governance failures and contribute to his community.
• The DA sees Venter’s candidacy as a strong move to challenge for power and improve governance in the municipality.

The DA has announced political analyst and academic Professor Theo Venter as its mayoral candidate for the JB Marks Municipality in the North West.

The DA’s outgoing leader, John Steenhuisen, announced Venter as the municipality’s mayoral candidate, ahead of the local government elections, at the party’s North West congress on Saturday.

Announcing Venter, Steenhuisen said the DA could win the JB Marks Municipality and had done so before. He, however, said that, this time around, voters needed to give the party a “bigger majority so that we can win properly this time”.

“And so the mayoral candidate is going to lead that campaign like a general from the front, a fighting general from the front; he is going to have to marshal the blue army towards achieving that objective. He’s going to have to marshal the resources, activate our activists, and empower them to do that change.

“And I can think of no person better for that job than the JB Marks mayoral candidate for this election, Dr Theo Venter,” he said.

In his acceptance speech, Venter said he was humbled by the nomination and thanked everyone who was involved in the selection process.

He went on to say that he had learnt from his parents that service to your community and making a conscious contribution “is really what it is all about”.

Venter said his community involvement and participation in Potchefstroom dated back to 1984, when he became involved in addressing a housing crisis – and, since then, he had always been part of Potchefstroom.

“I’m confronted where people are saying: why would you give up 42 years of being an independent analyst to now join the Democratic Alliance and to become the mayoral candidate?

“ Well, my motivation, I would like to stipulate it very clearly… I’ve watched governance and seen it fail in local governments for decades.

“I’ve spoken about it and analysed it for 40 years. I’ve helped students and leaders to understand what good governance looks like.

Venter added:

He added that he did not join the DA because he wanted to “become partisan”, but joined the party because he saw it as the only platform where good local governance was consistently proven.

“For most of my life, I believed my contribution to society was to analyse, to teach, to plan, to critique, and to help people think more clearly about politics and governance, but there comes a point where continuing to analyse without stepping forward becomes a form of avoidance. That’s what confronted me. I’m convinced that this is the time and the opportunity to step into the JB Marks Municipality and all its people, and to help,” he said.

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In a statement, following the announcement, the DA in the North West said putting Venter as its mayoral candidate for JB Marks “represents the DA’s serious intention to challenge for power” in that municipality.

“A candidate of this calibre, leading the charge for the DA, bodes well for the campaign in JB Marks.

“Professor Venter will cross the length and breadth of JB Marks Municipality to engage with residents of all communities. The voices of the residents of JB Marks must be heard, and must translate into action to get JB Marks working, and repair what is broken,” said newly elected provincial leader Freddy Sonakile.