Helen Zille

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Helen Zille
Mayor of Cape Town
Incumbent
Assumed office  2006
Preceded by	Nomaindia Mfeketo
Leader of the Democratic Alliance
Incumbent
Assumed office  2007
Preceded by	Tony Leon
Born	9 March 1951 (1951-03-09) (age 57) Johannesburg
Political party	Democratic Alliance

Helen Zille (9 March 1951 -) is the Mayor of Cape Town in South Africa's Western Cape province and leader of the Democratic Alliance political party, South Africa's official opposition. She was voted Newsmaker of the year 2006 by the National Press Club in Pretoria on 11 July 2007. She is a "grand-grand niece" of Heinrich Zille.

[edit] Early life and career

Her parents, who were Jewish, fled Nazi Germany to South Africa. After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Zille began her career as a political journalist for the Rand Daily Mail, where she famously exposed the truth behind Steve Biko's death.^[1] At this time she became politically active in the Democratic Party. Her editor at the time, Allister Sparks, recalls: 'She was the star cadet on the Rand Daily Mail'.

She was previously involved in the Black Sash movement, the End Conscription Campaign, the South Africa Beyond Apartheid Project and the Cape Town Peace Committee. She also gathered evidence for the Goldstone Commission which investigated attempts to destabilise the Western Cape before the elections in 1994.

She held the position of head of Public Relations for the University of Cape Town. As head of governing body of Grove Primary School in 1997, she led a successful challenge against government policy limiting governing bodies' powers to appoint staff.^[2]

She was the MEC for Education in the Western Cape and subsequently became a Member of Parliament for the DA. Within the DA she rose to the level of deputy federal chairperson and was the national party spokesperson and spokesperson for education.

She was a finalist in the South African Woman of the Year Award in 2003.^[3] Zille reflects the multilingualism of the country, and speaks English, Afrikaans and Xhosa (as well as the language of her parents, German).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Mayoralty

In the 2006 municipal elections, the DA became the single largest party in Cape Town with 42% of the vote, ahead of the African National Congress (ANC). Helen Zille was elected by 106 votes to 103 on 15 March 2006, after the DA obtained the support of several smaller parties.

After assuming office, Helen Zille's first major test of strength involved the decision by her multi-party government to revoke the appointment of the Cape Town City Manager, Wallace Mgoqi, whose term of appointment had been controversially extended by the outgoing ANC executive mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo.^[4] Zille's decision was upheld by the High Court which ruled that the extension of Mgoqi's appointment by the previous mayor had been unlawful. Zille has faced considerable opposition and confrontation with the ANC, in September 2006, the provincial ANC MEC Richard Dyantyi, announced he planned to replace the city's political system. Dyantyi wanted to impose an executive committee system, changing the mayoral committee system, the move would have resulted in Zille being stripped of her executive mayoral powers and her power considerably reduced. Under this policy, the winning party would not be able to assign every one of the ten seats - rather these would be allocated on a proportional representation basis.^[5] The matter was later resolved, with Dyanti and Zille settling on the terms of retaining the current mayoral system whilst the ANC was provided with two additional sub-committees in areas of the city controlled by the ANC.^[6]

Zille has tackled many issues in the city during her term and she has announced that she is committed to service delivery and delivering the city's mandate. Her commitments have included the imminent 2010 World Cup, as Cape Town is a designated host city. Zille has been overseeing the construction and financing of the greenpoint stadium, which will host matches. A particular concern of Zille's is the problem of drugs in Cape Town, particularly tik abuse in the coloured community. She has called for the decentraliztion of the police force and the promotion of drug rehab centres. Zille has also called for further funding from the government to battle drug abuse. Zille has also met with local communities ^[7] to discuss the issue and even attended a nighttime vigil.

Continuing with her dissatisfaction with the centralization of the police force, Zille has objected to plans to incorporate the metro police into the broader SAPS. Such a move would remove considerable power from local government and instead would vest more control in the hands of the National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi.^[8]

Zille is longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor award.^[9]

[edit] Position in the DA

On 15 March 2007 Zille declared herself as candidate to succeed the outgoing leader of the Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon. She was elected as the new leader by a large majority on 6 May 2007. She has indicated that she will lead the party from outside Parliament, while continuing in her position as executive mayor of Cape Town.

Since becoming leader of the Democratic Alliance, Zille has challenged the ruling government on a number of issues. Of particular concern to Zille was the government's response ^[10] to alarming crime statistics released in July 2007.

[edit] Campaign against drug and alcohol abuse

Zille and eight other persons were arrested on Sunday 9 September 2007 outside the Mitchell's Plain police station. Zille was arrested when she visited the police station to investigate the arrest of the group. The group had been distributing pamphlets in the campaign against the abuse of alcohol and drugs in Cape Town. Police have alleged that she supports vigilante groups opposed to drug abuse. She appeared in the Mitchell's Plain Magistrates Court later that week for contravening the Regulation of Gatherings Act. Zille is expected to sue the Minister of Police for wrongful arrest. ^[11]

On Tuesday 11 September 2007 Zille appeared briefly before the Mitchell's Plain Magistrates Court together with a group of ten persons who had been arrested with her.^[12]

On Sunday 30 September 2007 it was reported that senior intelligence sources, who were unhappy with the ANC's plans to subvert state institutions to do ANC bidding, had leaked information to Zille that operatives with weapons were infiltrating PADLAC with the ultimate objective of bringing down the leader of the opposition.^[13]

On October 23, 2007, Zille was acquitted of all charges brought before the Mitchell's Plain Magistrates Court on the grounds that the prosecution's case against her and 9 other defendants did not stand a chance of succeeding. Zille has reiterated her intention to sue the South African Police Services (SAPS) branch in the Western Cape for wrongful arrest.^[14]

On March 8, 2008, Helen Zille took her anti-drugs campaign to Johannesburg, leading a protest march. Marchers wore DA t-shirts, bearing the message Not do drugs and save our children.^[15]

[edit] United Nations

In April 2008, Zille was asked to address the UN in New York on population and development, offering her experience and lessons as mayor of Cape Town. ^[16]

[edit] World's best mayor award

Zille was nominated as one of 820 world mayors and has made it into the shortlist of 50 mayors. ^[17]

[edit] External links

• Helen Zille's interactive social media profile at Zoopy.com
• Helen Zille's blog
• CityMayors profile
• The Right Perspective Interview with Helen Zille: 10/21/2006 (Audio Archive)
• Quotes about Cape Town's mayoral system
• Zille voted Newsmaker of the year
• CapeInfo interview with Helen Zille

[edit] References

v • d • e Mayors of Cape Town van Breda • Dié de Waal • Inglesby • Bothwick • Graaff • Dommisse • Liberman • Baxter • Smith • Hands • Lewis • Gradner • Foster • Baxter • Bloomberg • Sonnenburg • Thompson • Honikman • Gradner • Tyers • Kreiner • Markowitz • Oliver • van der Velde • Solomons • Bantom • Hill • Marais • Morkel • Mfeketo • Zille