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.
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.
Roland Athol Price Trollip is a South African politician and provincial chairman of ActionSA in the Eastern Cape. He was previously a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), serving as the Federal Chairperson of the DA 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, known as Dan Plato, is a South African politician and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since January 2022, previously serving from June 2011 until October 2018. He is the former mayor of Cape Town, a position he held for two nonconsecutive terms from May 2009 until June 2011 and again from November 2018 until October 2021. From June 2011 to October 2018, he was 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.
Sarel Jacobus Francois "Kobus" Marais is a South African politician, Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance, and the current Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
Mbali Ntuli is a South African politician and a former member of the Democratic Alliance. She is the former Provincial Campaigns Director for the party in KZN. She resigned as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in March 2022, where she served as the DA KZN Spokesperson on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA). She previously served as leader and Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance Youth. She was elected to this position in May 2013.
John Cupido is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament in the Eastern Cape Provincial Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA) where he is the Shadow MEC of Health and also the DA's spokesperson on Economic Development, Environmental Affairs & Tourism; and acting spokesperson on Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture. He was first elected as a City Councillor in 2006 in East London where he led the Buffalo City DA Caucus till his election to the Provincial Legislature in the 2009 General Election in April 2009 at the age of 32.
Dean William Macpherson is a South African Member of Parliament for the Official Opposition, the Democratic Alliance and Provincial Chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal. He served his first full term in the National Assembly from 2014 - 2019 and was re-elected to the National Assembly on 8 May 2019 to begin his second term.
Graham Brian Douglas McIntosh is a South African farmer, businessman and retired politician. He was active in South African politics and served for four decades in the National Parliament in Cape Town from 1974 to 2014.
General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.
Zwakele Maxwell Mncwango is a South African politician who is the provincial chairperson of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal. He was a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2018 to 2022 and served as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2018 to 2019. He was the Provincial Leader of the KwaZulu-Natal Democratic Alliance (DA) from 2015 to 2021. Mncwango was the party's KwaZulu-Natal Premier candidate for the 2019 election.
Mohammed Haniff Hoosen is a South African politician who has served as a Member for the National Assembly for the Independent Democrats (ID) (2007–2014) and currently for the Democratic Alliance (DA) (2014–present). Within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, he serves as the DA's spokesperson on the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General. He was the Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs from 2019 to 2020. Hoosen was also the Shadow Minister of Home Affairs from 2014 to 2019.
Hannah Shameema Winkler is a South African politician. She is a member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance and the party's former shadow deputy minister of environment, forestry and fisheries.
Andrew Grant Whitfield is a South African politician who has been the Shadow Minister of Police since 2019 and a Member of the National Assembly for the Democratic Alliance since 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2016. Having served as the provincial chairman of the DA in the Eastern Cape from 2017 to 2023, he is currently the provincial leader of the party and the leader of the party's Tsitsi-Kouga Constituency. Whitfield had previously served on the Nelson Mandela Bay city council and in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature.
Nazley Khan Sharif is a South African politician serving as the Shadow Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities since April 2023, having previously served as Deputy Minister between June 2019 and April 2023. Sharif was elected to the National Assembly in the May 2019 general election. Khan is a member of the Democratic Alliance.
Thamsanqa (Thami) Bhekokwakhe Mabhena is a South African politician. He is currently the Shadow Deputy Minister of Transport and a Member of Parliament (MP) for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).
Vusumuzi Cyril Xaba is a South African politician and a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2019. He is currently serving as Co-Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence and as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans. A member of the African National Congress, he previously served in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 1994 to 2009 and from 2014 to 2019. He was the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2014 to 2016.
Siboniso Armstrong Duma is a South African politician who is the provincial chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal. He is also Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in the KwaZulu-Natal government.
Nhlakanipho Ntombela is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature since before 2014. He is also a longstanding member of the Provincial Executive Committee of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC, and in December 2021 he was elected Deputy Regional Chairperson of the ANC's Moses Mabhida branch in Umgungundlovu District.
