South Africa: DA leader to leave office

  1. Posted on Monday 27 April 2009 - 09:37
    Mernat
    Image of Mernat
    Mernat Mafirakurewa, AfricaNews reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa
    Helen Zille the leader of the official opposition, Democratic Alliance will on Wednesday step down as Cape Town mayor. She will be gazetted as a member of the Western Cape provincial legislature. The DA won a clear majority in the province in last week's elections, assuring Zille of the premier's post.
    zille
    “As soon as the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) puts her name in the gazette as a member of the provincial government she'll cease to be mayor because you can't be a councillor and an MPP (member of provincial parliament) at the same time," spokesperson Robert MacDonald said.

    In a related development DA chief executive officer, Ryan Coetzee, said the DA's growth of more than 1 million votes (1 014 628) nationally had seen it increase in size by about 35 percent.

    “The DA has achieved all three of its key objectives in this election campaign: to keep the ANC below a two-thirds majority, to win an outright majority in the Western Cape, and to significantly strengthen our position as the official opposition in South Africa."

    He said it had never been "inevitable" that the party would do as well as it had. Like the ANC, the DA had had to contend with the emergence of "a significant new opposition party" in the shape of COPE, to compete for votes with almost every other opposition party and to mount a nationwide challenge to the ANC.

    The DA's federal executive is to meet Tuesday. Coetzee said it would discuss plans for the local government elections in 2011, when it aimed to win cities and municipalities across the country to build a platform from which to launch a campaign for national government in 2014.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive