Helen Zille

Helen Zille is a liberal politician, anti-apartheid activist and former journalist. She is the Federal Council chairperson of the Democratic Alliance. She previously served as premier of the Western Cape (2009–2019), mayor of Cape Town (2006–2009) and leader of the Democratic Alliance (2007–2015).

Short biography

Helen Zille began her career as a journalist, and as a political correspondent for the Rand Daily Mail she covered key political stories. In 1977 she exposed the fact that anti-apartheid activist and Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko was killed in police custody by the apartheid regime, whose official version of events was that he had died as a result of a hunger strike.

Zille resigned from the Rand Daily Mail along with editor Allister Sparks after the paper's owner demanded that Sparks quieten the paper's equal rights rhetoric.

From the 1980s onward she became heavily involved in the anti-apartheid movement, helping NGOs and activist organisations, including the Open Society Foundation, the Independent Media Diversity Trust, and the Black Sash. She also campaigned against vigilantism and repression in the Cape Town townships. During this time she was arrested for being in a "group area" without a permit and received a suspended prison sentence. Zille and her husband later offered their home as a safehouse for ANC activists during the 1986 State of Emergency, and she was temporarily forced into hiding with their two-year-old son. She was also actively involved in the South Africa Beyond Apartheid Project and the Cape Town Peace Committee. She later gathered evidence for the Goldstone Commission which investigated attempts to destabilise the Western Cape before the elections in 1994.

She joined the former Democratic Party in the mid-1990s, where she was asked to reformulate the party's education policy and stand as a candidate on its election list for the Western Cape legislature. She also acted as technical advisor to the party at CODESA in the early 1990s.

Helen was elected to the provincial parliament for the Democratic Party in the 1999 general election. From 1999 to 2001 she served as Minister of Education in the Western Cape Province.

When the ANC gained power in 2001 she became Leader of the Opposition in the Western Cape legislature, where she remained until she was elected as a member of the National Parliament in 2004.

As a Member of Parliament she served on the Portfolio Committee on Education, and acted as the DA's national spokesperson. Her constituency included Langa, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha.

On 15 March 2006 she was elected mayor of Cape Town, managing a fragile, seven-party coalition. Two years later, in 2008, she was voted World Mayor in a poll of over 800 cities around the world conducted by global think tank, World Mayors. Her successes in transforming Cape Town into the best-governed city in South Africa was detailed in a DA document titled “The Cape Town Story”.

In May 2009 Helen was elected premier of the Western Cape, governing with an outright majority. Under her tenure the Western Cape consistently achieved the best audit outcomes in the country and consistently topped rankings on service delivery, healthcare and education outcomes. The province also sustained high levels of economic growth and maintained the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

On 6 May 2007 she was elected as the Leader of the Democratic Alliance. During this time the party achieved substantial growth, adding 2,2 million new voters to its tally, winning the Western Cape and cementing its status as the main alternative to the governing ANC nationally, as well as winning new support from every community. Her term as DA leader ended in May 2015.

In 2016 she published her autobiography, titled Not without a fight, and in May 2019 she retired from public office. In July 2019 she joined the South African Institute for Race Relations as a senior policy fellow, and in August 2019 started a podcast called Tea with Helen. After a series of difficult events within the Democratic Alliance, on 4 October 2019 Zille declared her candidacy for Federal Council Chairperson of the DA, as the incumbent, James Selfe, had announced his retirement. The position is similar to the role of secretary-general of any political party's leadership structure. Despite media predictions of a close race, it was announced on 22 October 2019 that Zille had comfortably won the election.

Reguit met Robinson: ’n Zoom-gesprek met Helen Zille

Freek Robinson, Helen Zille Onderhoude 2021-06-10

Helen Zille skiet uit die heup in hierdie onderhoud met Freek Robinson. Sy maak regse identiteitspolitiek af as ’n front vir die ANC en beweer die ANC is ’n kriminele sindikaat. Voorts beskuldig Zille ook vir Cyril Ramaphosa dat hy ruggraatloos is.

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