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 | |
| 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. He was not ever leader of the Progressive Party itself, although he became part of the collective leadership of the newly-merged Progressive Reform 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.
Read more about this topic: Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
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