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South African opposition leader to stand down Sorry - this page has been removed.
(about 1 month later)
The leader of South Africa’s main opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said on Sunday she was standing down, possibly opening the way for a black candidate to broaden the party’s electoral appeal. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
Helen Zille, 62, the daughter of German immigrants, has spent the last eight years leading the liberal democratic DA, which won more than 22% of the vote in elections last May – its best ever result – as the ruling African National Congress’s share slipped to 62% from over 65%.
“These kinds of decisions are a long time coming but in the end they are made suddenly. The time is right,” said Zille, a former mayor of Cape Town and current premier of Western Cape province. For further information, please contact:
Some critics have accused the DA of being “lily white” and not fully committed to transforming South Africa’s racial inequalities. That image was emphasised when it failed to persuade prominent black activist Mamphela Ramphele to lead its election campaign as party president.
The DA chooses new leaders at an electoral conference on 9 May and Zille went to great lengths to say the timing of her announcement was not a “cynical plot” to parachute the DA’s parliamentary leader, Mmusi Maimane, a 34-year-old black man, into the top job.
“My mistakes have been when I have been involved in succession races,” Zille said. “I will not be involved at all.”
Maimane, speaking on television after the news conference, declined to confirm he would run for the post.
South Africa holds what are expected to be tightly contested local government elections in 2016, with the ANC already under pressure after its share of the vote in the Johannesburg province, Gauteng, slipped by almost 10 points to 53% at last year’s national election.
The DA’s position as the most prominent opposition party has recently been challenged by the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters.