The Democratic Alliance is a South African political party and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The party is broadly centrist, and has been attributed both centre-left and centre-right policies. It is a member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network. The DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present. The DA ideologically shows a variety of liberal tendencies, including social liberalism, classical liberalism, and conservative liberalism.
Patricia de Lille is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the political party Good. She was previously Mayor of Cape Town from 2011 to 2018, and Western Cape Provincial Minister of Social Development from 2010 to 2011. She founded and led the Independent Democrats (ID), a political party which she formed in 2003 during a floor-crossing window, after she broke away from the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In August 2010, the ID merged with the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition, and the party was officially dissolved in 2014. From 2015 to 2017, she was Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape.
The City of Cape Town is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and all of its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026.
Municipal elections were held in South Africa on 1 March 2006, to elect members to the local governing councils in the municipalities of South Africa. The municipalities form the local government of South Africa and are subdivisions of the provinces, thus making them responsible for local service delivery, such as electricity, water and fire services.
Otta Helene Maree, known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she was the Premier of the Western Cape province for two five-year terms, and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. She served as Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009.
General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 2009 to elect members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. These were the fourth general elections held since the end of the apartheid era.
Badih Chabaan was a PR councilor in the Cape Town City Council. He was a member of the Africa Muslim Party (AMP) when he was named councilor in August 2006 but later crossed the floor to establish the National People's Party (NPP), which he led as president. In November 2015, he announced his intention to resign from politics and hand over NPP leadership to his daughter.
Although the Democratic Alliance of South Africa in its present form is fairly new, its roots can be traced far back in South African political history, through a complex sequence of splits and mergers.
Grant Haskin is currently serving as Member of the Cape Town City Council and Leader of the African Christian Democratic Party in the Cape Town City Council. He previously served as Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Acting Mayor of Cape Town, Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Sports and Amenities. He served in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament for two periods. While a Member of the Provincial Parliament, he served as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and Special Delegate to the National Council of the Provinces.
Lindiwe Mazibuko is a Swazi-born South African academic, former politician, musician and the former Leader of the Official Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). She was varyingly labelled a "rising star in Parliament" and a possible future DA leader. She was elected the new DA Parliamentary Leader on 27 October 2011, beating incumbent Athol Trollip in a tight race, becoming the first non-white person to lead the Democratic Alliance in Parliament.
Roland Athol Price Trollip is a retired South African politician of the Democratic Alliance (DA), who served as the Federal Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance from 2015 to 2019 and the Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, serving from 2016 until he was unseated in a vote of no confidence in 2018.
Daniel Plato, better known as Dan Plato, is a South African politician and the former Mayor of Cape Town. He previously held the position for two nonconsecutive term from May 2009 until June 2011 and again from November 2018 until October 2021. From June 2011 to October 2018, he was a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Community Safety.
Ian Douglas Neilson is a South African civil engineer and politician who served as the Deputy Mayor of Cape Town from May 2009 to October 2021. He previously served as the Mayoral Committee Member for Finance from 2006 until 2016 and Executive Councillor for Safety and Health from 2000 until 2002.
Andrew Louw is a South African politician serving as Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature since 2014. He was the Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance in the Northern Cape from 2009 to 2020. He was previously a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa where he served as the Shadow Minister of Labour. Louw was the Democratic Alliance's Northern Cape Premier candidate for the 2014 and 2019 elections.
The National People's Party was a political party registered on a national level with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa. It came into existence when Badih Chaaban, a member of the Cape Town City Council crossed the floor from the Africa Muslim Party (AMP) in an attempt to wrest control of the city council from the Democratic Alliance-led multi-party coalition. The party was set up by Chaaban shortly before the floor crossing period in 2007 with the help of David Sasman, its interim leader. It should not be confused with the National People's Party, renamed the Minority Front, led by Amichand Rajbansi during the apartheid era.
Mmusi Aloysias Maimane is a South African politician, the former Leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political party from 10 May 2015 to 23 October 2019, and the former Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from 29 May 2014 to 24 October 2019. He is the former leader of the DA in the Johannesburg City Council and the DA National Spokesperson. In 2011, he was elected to be the DA's Johannesburg mayoral candidate in the 2011 municipal elections. In that election, Maimane helped to grow the party's voter base, but was not elected mayor. Thereafter he served as Leader of the Official Opposition on the Johannesburg City Council until May 2014. In addition to his political career, he is also a pastor and elder in the conservative Liberty Church. He formed the One South Africa Movement in 2020.
The council of the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa is elected every five years by a system of mixed-member proportional representation. Half of the councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting from individual wards, while the other half are appointed from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. By-elections are held to replace the councillors elected by wards if a vacancy occurs.
The 2019 Western Cape provincial election was held on 8 May 2019 to elect the 6th Western Cape Provincial Parliament. It was the sixth provincial election held since the establishment of the provincial legislature in 1994.
Deborah Anne "Debbie" Schäfer is a South African politician and lawyer who has been serving as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Education since May 2014. She also serves as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament for the Democratic Alliance. Schäfer served as a Member of the National Assembly from May 2009 to May 2014.
Kent Hercules Morkel is a retired South African politician and the son of the late politician Gerald Morkel. He served as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He is a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the New National Party (NNP) and the Labour Party (LP).
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