Democratic Alliance (South Africa)

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Democratic Alliance
Leader Helen Zille
Number of Members
in the National Assembly		 46
Founded 24 June 2000
Headquarters 5th Floor, Ruskin House
2 Roeland Street
Cape Town
Political Ideology Liberalism
International Affiliation Liberal International
Colours Blue, Yellow
Website www.da.org.za
See also:
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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a liberal South African political party, and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress. It was formed when the Democratic Party entered into a short-lived alliance with the New National Party in 2000.

Contents

[edit] History and origins

Although the Democratic Alliance 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.

(1st ancestor party 1910-34): The South African Party won the first general election in the Union of South Africa in 1910.

(2nd ancestor party 1934-59): The National Party and the South African Party entered into a coalition, which led to the creation of a merged United Party in 1934. This party included both liberal and conservative elements. The United Party continued to exist after 1959 and was the source of several breakaway groups which merged with later ancestor parties.

(3rd ancestor party 1959-75): The Progressive Party, was founded in 1959 when liberal members seceded from the United Party. They could not agree with the inability of the UP to present an alternative to the National Party's apartheid policy. The PP emphasized constitutional reform, a Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary and the evolution towards federalism. These reform proposals were combined with advocacy of a free market economy. In 1961 only Helen Suzman was elected in parliament. For 13 years she was the only opponent of racial discrimination and other apartheid regime's abuses in the whites-only parliament, fighting against detention without trial, pass laws, influx control etc. From 1971 Colin Eglin was the party leader, without being a member of parliament himself. In 1974 the party won seven seats.

(4th ancestor party 1975-77): In 1975 the party merged with the Reform Party led by Harry Schwarz, a breakaway party of the United Party, forming the Progressive Reform Party.

(5th ancestor party 1977-89): Two years later dissident UP members formed the Committee for a United Opposition, that joined the PRP to form the Progressive Federal Party. The PFP drew support mainly from liberal English-speaking white South Africans, as owing to South Africa's apartheid laws, its membership was limited to the country's whites. The PFP was derided by right-wing whites, who claimed its initials stood for 'Packing for Perth', on account of the many white liberal supporters of the 'Progs' who were emigrating to Australia.

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, PFP leader since 1979, resigned from parliament in 1986 because it had, in his view, become irrelevant. Later he formed the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (IDASA). He was succeeded by Colin Eglin. The PFP was ousted as the official opposition by the far-right Conservative Party in the whites-only parliamentary elections held on 6 May 1987. This electoral blow led many of the PFP's leaders to question the value of participating in the whites-only parliament, and some of its MPs left to join the National Democratic Movement. In 1987, shortly before the elections, the Independent Party of Denis Worrall was also formed, further splitting the liberal opposition.

[edit] Democracy

(6th ancestor party 1989-2000): After the 1987 elections, the new PFP leader Zach de Beer concluded negotiations with the IP and the NDM to merge into the Democratic Party in 1989, and proceeded to win 36 seats in the elections that year. The DP played a vital role in the negotiation of an interim constitution which includes most of the original progressive principles and ideals. In the 1994 general election, the first after apartheid was abolished, the party won only 1.7% of the vote and 10 seats in parliament. Nelson Mandela's eldest daughter Makaziwe and F. W. De Klerk's brother Willem (who was a co-founder of the party) voted for the Democratic Party in these elections.[1] Soon after the elections, De Beer was succeeded by Tony Leon, who emphasized the protection of human rights, federalism and free enterprise. The party improved its performance during the 1999 general election to receive 9.6% of the vote and 38 seats, replacing the New National Party as official opposition.

The DP merged with the NNP in 2000 to form the Democratic Alliance (DA). The much smaller Federal Alliance later also merged with the DA. This was done in preparation for the local government elections of December 5, 2000. The DA won 22% of the vote in the local government elections and secured an outright majority in the Cape Town unicity with 52.5% of the vote compared to 38% for the ANC. Peter Marais became mayor of Cape Town. The DA also took control of 20 local municipalities in the Western Cape.

The brittle alliance with the NNP lasted only until October 2001, when the NNP left to form a new alliance with the African National Congress. With the defection of some NNP members in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature the DA lost control of the province, while the defection of some NNP councillors during the October 2002 floor-crossing window resulted in the DA losing control of Cape Town and most of the local municipalities in the Western Cape.

Helen Zille, the current DA leader
Helen Zille, the current DA leader

With the 2004 general election, both the DA and ANC increased their vote share, at the expense of other opposition parties. The DA won 12.4% of the votes and 50 seats, and remains the second largest political party in South Africa.

The DA won 14.8% of the vote in the local government elections held on March 1, 2006 and regained control of the City of Cape Town from the ANC, the only Metropolitan Council in South Africa not controlled by the ANC. Helen Zille was elected executive mayor on March 15, 2006 and formed a coalition with six smaller parties as the DA failed to win an outright majority in the council. In the local government elections the DA had won 41.8% of the vote in Cape Town compared to 38.5% for the ANC.

With the retirement of Tony Leon, leader since 1994, the party is facing a new era. Given his prominence and long tenure, the DA is closely identified with him. On May 6th, in a landslide victory, Helen Zille was elected the new leader of the Democratic Alliance.

As Zille opted to remain as mayor of Cape Town as well as adopt the position of leader of the DA, it was decided that another DA member would be required to represent Zille and the party in the National Assembly. Following a vote which was mainly contested between former NNP MP, Tertius Delport and Sandra Botha, Botha triumphed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Martin Meredith; Nelson Mandela: A Biography.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Affiliates

[edit] Party initiatives

[edit] Caucuses

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