History of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa)

For information about the Democratic Alliance, including its current composition and ideology, as well as a concise history summary of the party, see Democratic Alliance (South Africa).

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.

History

Earliest Origins

The earliest ancestor of the modern day Democratic Alliance is the South African Party, which won the first general election in the Union of South Africa in 1910. The party lasted until 1934, when the National Party and the South African Party entered into a coalition, which led to the creation of a merged United Party (UP). 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.

Progressive Movement

The Progressive Party (PP), was founded in 1959 when liberal members seceded from the United Party (UP). 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 and influx control. From 1971 Colin Eglin was the party leader, without being a member of parliament himself. In 1974 the party won seven seats.

A year later, in July 1975, the Progressive Party merged with the Reform Party (RP), a breakaway party of the United Party. The outcome was the formation of the South African Progressive Reform Party (PRP). Former Reform Party leader Harry Schwarz was appointed chairman of the PRP's National Executive, while Eglin was elected leader.

By 1977, support for the United Party was in rapid decline, and further dissident UP members formed a Committee for a United Opposition, before joining the PRP to form the Progressive Federal Party (PFP). Later that year, the PFP became official opposition following the 1977 general election. 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 (NDM). In 1987, shortly before the elections, the Independent Party (IP) of Denis Worrall was also formed, further splitting the liberal opposition.

Democratic Era

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 1991 Harry Schwarz, one of the party's founders and most prominent leaders was appointed South African Ambassador to the United States, the first opposition member to become an ambassador in South African history. 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.

Helen Zille, the current DA leader

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, and 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. The Federal Alliance also left the DA to instead join the Freedom Front Plus. 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.

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.

On March 1, 2006, the DA won 14.8% of the vote in the local government elections, 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. Two months later, Zille won the leadership of the party in a landslide vote following the retirement of long-serving Tony Leon.

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. Botha served as parliamentary leader until announcing her retirement from party politics in January 2009.

Re-launch and 2009 elections

On 15 November 2008, the DA convened a meeting on Constitutional Hill to re-launch the party as one which no longer acts as an opposition but offers voters another choice for government. Along with this, the party also introduced a new logo, featuring a rising sun over the colours of the South African flag (Representing the Rainbow Nation), and a new slogan, "One Nation, One Future."

This is in line with the new strategy the party is implementing with regard to a non-racial South Africa where everyone has equal opportunities. Party leader, Helen Zille said the new DA would be “more reflective of our rich racial, linguistic and cultural heritage”. Zille has emphasised that she wants the party to be a "party for all the people" and not decline into a "shrinking, irrelevant minority". She has also spoken out against the party's image as being exclusively 'white'.

Fiftieth anniversary

On 13 November 2009, the Democratic Alliance marked the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Progressive Party in Cape Town in the old chamber of parliament. Around 20 former MPs from the DA's predecessor parties attended. Elder statesmen of the DA Colin Eglin, Harry Schwarz and Jan Steytler, along with current DA leader Helen Zille gave speeches. While praising the liberal contribution to opposing and ending apartheid, they stated how South Africa and the DA still had much work to do. Harry Schwarz delivered his last ever speech, following his death in February 2010. He paid tribute to Helen Zille, calling her the embodiment of the principles he and others had fought for and warned that "Freedom is incomplete if it is exercised in poverty", a phase he often used. Colin Eglin praised the liberal opposition to apartheid, stating that the principles that they had fought had been "entrenched in the Constitution". Jan Steytler stated that South Africa wanted to "face the future, not with fear, but with confidence that we can live together in harmony in a multi-racial country."

Leaders

Leaders of the Democratic Alliance, and its predecessor parties:

		Entered office	Left office	Party name
1	Jan Steytler 1	November 1959	December 1970	Progressive Party
2	Harry Lawrence2	December 1970	February 1971
3	Harry Schwarz 3	February 1975	July 1975		Reform Party
3	Colin Eglin4	February 1971	July 1975
		July 1975	1977	Progressive Reform Party
		1977	1979	Progressive Federal Party
4	Frederik van Zyl Slabbert	1979	1986
5	Colin Eglin	1986	1988
6	Zach de Beer	1988	1989
7,8	Zach de Beer, Denis Worrall and Wynand Malan5	1989	1994	Democratic Party
9	Tony Leon	1994	2000
		2000	May 2007	Democratic Alliance
10	Helen Zille6	May 2007	present

• ¹ Between 1961 and 1970, Steytler served as party leader from outside Parliament, where Helen Suzman was the party's sole representative.
• ² Interim leader.
• ³ Schwarz was leader of the Reform Party that broke away from the United Party and which merged with the Progressive Party.
• ⁴ First Progressive Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (from 1977).
• ⁵ Co-leaders, following the formation of the Democratic Party in 1989.
• ⁶ Zille, like Steytler and Lawrence, serves as leader from outside of Parliament, where she is represented by a separate Parliamentary Leader - first Sandra Botha, and then later Athol Trollip.

Parliamentary Leaders

Parliamentary leaders of the Democratic Alliance and its predecessor parties, in the absence of a sitting party leader in Parliament:

		On behalf of	Entered office	Left office	Party name
1	Helen Suzman	Jan Steytler, Harry Lawrence and Colin Eglin	October 1961	April 1974	Progressive Party
2	Sandra Botha	Helen Zille	May 2007	April 2008	Democratic Alliance
3	Athol Trollip		May 2008	October 2011
4	Lindiwe Mazibuko		October 2011	present

Chairpersons

Federal chairpersons (sometimes referred to as 'national chairpersons') and chairpersons of the party's federal council (sometimes referred to as the party's 'federal executive' or the 'national council'), since the merger of the Reform Party and the Progressive Party in 1975:

Federal (National) Chairperson	Years	Party name	Chairperson of the Federal Council
Ray Swart	1975–1977	Progressive Reform Party	Harry Schwarz
	1977–1979	Progressive Federal Party
Colin Eglin	1979–1986		Alexander Boraine
Peter Gastrow	1986–1987		Ken Andrew
Helen Suzman	1987–1989
Tian van der Merwe	1989–1991	Democratic Party	Dave Gant
Ken Andrew	1991–1997
Errol Moorcroft	1997–2000		Douglas Gibson
Joe Seremane	2000–present	Democratic Alliance	James Selfe

Chief Executive Officers

Chief executive officers of the Democratic Alliance:

		Started	Ended
1	Ryan Coetzee	November 2004	July 2009
2	Jonathan Moakes	July 2009	incumbent