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.
Nkhumeni "Khume" Ramulifho is a South African politician of Rise Mzansi,previously the Democratic Alliance where he served as Federal Youth Leader and a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature for the party. From October 2011,he was the DA Gauteng South Chairperson,until joining Rise Mzansi in January 2024.
John Henry Steenhuisen is a South African politician who has served as the twentieth leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020,having served as the interim leader for one year from November 2019. He was chief whip of the official opposition from May 2014 until October 2019.
Jacobus Frederik "Jacques" Smalle is a South African politician who has served as a Democratic Alliance Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023 and previously from 2010 to 2014. Smalle served as a member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature twice from 2009 until 2010 and again from 2014 until 2023. Smalle is currently the Democratic Alliance's Limpopo provincial chairperson. He had previously served as the party's Limpopo provincial leader and as deputy federal chairperson of the party. He was the DA's Limpopo Premier candidate for the 2019 election.
Mmusi Aloysias Maimane is a South African politician,businessman,and leader of Build One South Africa,a political party. Maimane is also 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 at Liberty Church. He formed the One South Africa Movement in 2020. Mmusi Maimane launched this new political party,Build One South Africa on 24 September 2022.
Marius "Manqoba" Redelinghuys is a South African politician and a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA). He was first elected to the National Assembly on 7 May following the 2014 national elections. For a year he had also been one of two DA National Spokespersons
The Democratic Alliance held its 6th Federal Congress in Port Elizabeth,Eastern Cape from 9 May to 10 May 2015. After incumbent leader Helen Zille announced she would not seek reelection,the Congress became focused on the contest to succeed her.
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.
The Shadow Cabinet of Mmusi Maimane was formed on 5 June 2014 in South Africa following his election as Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance and Leader of the Opposition on 29 May 2014. The Democratic Alliance parliamentary caucus also elected other caucus leadership. John Steenhuisen was elected Chief Whip with Anchen Dreyer as Caucus Chairperson. These elections all occurred following the 2014 general elections,in which the Democratic Alliance retained its post as the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa.
Thomas Charles Ravenscroft Walters is a South African politician of the Democratic Alliance (DA) who has been serving as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2014. He served as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 2009 to 2014. In 2012,Walters was elected Deputy Federal Council Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance,and has been deputising Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille since 2019. He deputised James Selfe from 2012 to 2019. Walters was the party's Shadow Minister and Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform.
John Clifford Moodey is a South African politician who served as the Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng from 2007 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2020. Moodey was a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 2004 to 2020 and served as Leader of the Opposition from 2014 to 2019. He was the party's Shadow MEC for Community Safety.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) held its leadership conference virtually between 31 October and 1 November 2020. It was originally scheduled to be held in May 2020,but was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The previous congress was held in 2018. In October 2019,then-party leader Mmusi Maimane announced that the party would seek to hold a policy conference and early elective congress in 2020. Maimane and former party chair Athol Trollip have since resigned from their positions and the DA. The party elected John Steenhuisen and Ivan Meyer as their interim successors,respectively.
Refiloe Nt'sekhe is a South African politician who has been a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since 2014. A member of the Democratic Alliance,she served as one of the party's deputy federal chairpersons between 2015 and 2023 and as one of the party's national spokespeople between 2015 and 2020.
Evelyn "Lindy" Wilson is a South African politician who has served as the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance in Limpopo since 2023. A former councillor for ward 20 in the Polokwane Local Municipality,Wilson was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in 2014. She was then appointed Shadow Deputy Minister of Social Development. After the 2019 election,she became the Shadow Deputy Minister of Health. Wilson was sworn in as a member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature in August 2023.
Leonard Jones Basson is a South African politician,a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Democratic Alliance and the DA's provincial leader in the North West. Before being elected unopposed to this position on 21 November 2020,Basson had served as the deputy provincial leader from 2017 to 2020. He has held various posts in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of South Africa. He served as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation between 2014 and 2017,as the Shadow Minister of Water and Sanitation from 2017 to 2019,and as the Shadow Minister of Human Settlements,Water and Sanitation from 2019 to 2020. Basson has been the Shadow Minister of Water &Sanitation since 2020.
Baxolile Babongile Nodada is a South African politician for the Democratic Alliance who has been a Member of Parliament since 2019,and the Shadow Minister of Basic Education and the Parliamentary Counsellor to the Leader of the Opposition in John Steenhuisen's Shadow Cabinet since 2020.
Luyolo Mphithi is a South African politician who has been the Shadow Minister of Human Settlements since 2023 and a Member of Parliament since 2019. He previously served as Shadow Minister of Women,Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Alliance,he served as the Federal Leader of the party's youth organisation from 2018 until his resignation in 2022. Luyolo Mphithi was elected as Vice President of the African Liberal Youth for democracy in Dakar,Senegal in 2022. He also serves as a Bureau Regional member of the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY).
Tsepo Winston Mhlongo is a South African politician. As a member of the Democratic Alliance,he served as a councillor in the City of Johannesburg until the 2014 national election,when he was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa. After that,he was appointed Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. Mhlongo became the Shadow Minister of Sport and Recreation in January 2017 before he was selected to be Shadow Minister of Sports,Arts and Culture in June 2019. On 1 December 2023,Mhlongo was expelled from the DA and lost his parliamentary membership. He has since joined ActionSA.
Michael Bagraim is a South African politician and labour lawyer. A member of the Democratic Alliance,he was elected to the National Assembly in 2014. He was then appointed Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour. In 2017,Bagraim was promoted to Shadow Minister of Labour. After the 2019 election,he was made Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour and Employment.
Darren Bergman is a South African politician who has served as Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade,Industry and Competition since 2023 and has been a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance since 2014. He was Shadow Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation between 2014 and 2019 and Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation between 2019 and 2023.
