The Democratic Alliance is a South African political party which is a part of the current South African Government of National Unity (GNU) together with the African National Congress (ANC),Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP),and several others. The party has been the second-largest in South Africa since its foundation in 2000. 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 has a variety of ideologically liberal tendencies,including neoliberalism,social liberalism,classical liberalism,and conservative liberalism. The party draws its support predominantly from Afrikaans and English speakers,people aged over 35,and white South Africans,as well as the Indian and Coloured communities.
Patricia de Lille is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and leader of the political party Good. She served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023.
The City of Cape Town is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of 4,772,846.
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.
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.
Daniel Plato,known as Dan Plato,is a South African politician and a former Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He served from June 2011 until October 2018 and again from January 2022 until February 2024. 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.
Bonginkosi Success Madikizela is a South African politician.
Geordin Gwyn Hill-Lewis is a South African politician who is the Mayor of Cape Town. A member of the Democratic Alliance,he was elected mayor in November 2021.
Sharna Gail Fernandez is a South African politician and former banker who served as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Social Development from May 2019 until June 2024 and as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from May 2014 until May 2024,representing the Democratic Alliance. She served as the Speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from 2014 to 2019.
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.
Good is a South African social democratic political party that was formed in December 2018.
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.
Lennit Hendry Max is a South African politician,advocate and police officer who served as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament,as Shadow Deputy Minister of Correctional Services (2010–2014),as Member of the National Assembly (2010–2014) and as Western Cape Provincial Minister of Community Safety (2009–2010).
An indirect mayoral election was held at a special sitting of the Cape Town City Council on 6 November 2018 to determine the successor of former mayor Patricia de Lille after she resigned on 31 October. Former mayor and Provincial Minister of Community Safety,Dan Plato,of the Democratic Alliance won the election as the party holds a two-thirds majority in the city council.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on 20 March 2019 that a record number of 48 parties had registered candidates for the national parliamentary election. This is 19 more parties that contested the 2014 national elections. In the provincial legislature elections,the total number of parties registering candidates were:
Shaun Nigel August is a South African politician and former prison warden. He was a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2019 until February 2022 and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from February 2022 until his expulsion from Good in May 2023. He began his political career as a member of the Independent Democrats (ID). August was appointed as the party's deputy national organiser in 2006. August joined the Democratic Alliance (DA) when the ID merged with the party and served as the DA's chief whip in the City of Cape Town council from 2014 to 2018.
Brett Norton Herron is a South African politician and attorney who is an incoming member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He previously served in the house from May 2019 until February 2022. He also served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from February 2022 to May 2024. Herron is the secretary-general of the GOOD party. He was the party's candidate for Mayor of Cape Town in the 2021 municipal elections.
Benedicta Maria van Minnen is a South African politician and a member of the Democratic Alliance. She has been a member of the Western Cape Provincial. Previously,she served as a councillor in the City of Cape Town and as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa.
Tandeka Gqada is a South African businesswoman,politician and a councillor for the Democratic Alliance in the City of Cape Town since November 2021. Gqada had previously served as a DA councillor in the City of Cape Town where she was an Executive Member of the Mayoral Committee. She is a former Member of Parliament for the DA (2014–2019). She served as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Human Settlements from 2014 to 2017 and as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Energy from 2017 to 2019.
