Durban - The increasingly popular mayor of uMngeni Local Municipality, Chris Pappas, is being urged to run to be KwaZulu-Natal premier in the 2024 national government elections.
This past week, Pappas, who is mayor of the KZN Midlands town of Howick and surrounding areas, engaged with residents on his Twitter account in a session called “Ask Pappas” where followers could ask him any questions.
The session included calls for Pappas to run for premier of the province and for him to tackle the country’s challenges, including illegal immigration.
Since taking over as the mayor of uMngeni after the DA won the municipality in the 2021 local government elections, Pappas has outlined a number of projects to turn around the municipality.
In a statement last month, the municipality said in seven months of the new administration a number of interventions have been put in place to respond to the mistakes of the previous years.
The municipality also said for the 2021/2022 closing financial year the uMngeni Municipality had achieved an unqualified audit opinion with findings compared, which was an improvement from the qualified audit opinions it had received in previous years.
One Twitter user posted a question in isiZulu asking whether it was possible for the DA to put up Pappas as its candidate for the premiership. In response, Pappas said people should vote for the DA if they want to see change.
Another user asked if the DA and IFP had a plan to secure votes in the 2024 elections to ensure that the ANC does not get the majority of votes in KZN.
In his response, Pappas said: “In 2024, KZN will not be run by the ANC. They have failed the people of KZN. The DA will grow as we have done in all elections in KZN over the last few years.”