“We want our leaders to succeed because that helps our party to succeed,” she told delegates at the Democratic Alliance’s federal congress in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

“It is always good to listen to other points of view.”

She said the best choices were made when an open approach was taken to learn from each other.

Zille said the congress was an opportunity to reflect on how far the party had come.

She also said the only people who never make mistakes are those who are too afraid to take risks.

“If we learn from our mistakes, we create new opportunities.

“The same applies to a political party. Our goal is to become the government of South Africa so that everyone has freedom they can use to build a better life.”

She was confident that the DA would get there sooner than many people thought.

“It will not be easy. We respect the power of past loyalties. We understand how much we owe to those who struggled for our freedom … that is why we say ‘honour your past but own your future’.”

Zille said the opposition was determined to break the barriers that still divided South Africans.

She urged delegates to earn people’s trust rather than to assume it or demand it.

She said the DA was not a party for racists.

“It is not a party for sexists, xenophobes, or homophobes,” she said.