Otta Helene Zille (; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance from October 2019 to April 2026. From 2009 until 2019, she was the Premier of the Western Cape province for two five-year terms, and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.Zille leaves mayor's post Post. 30 April 2009 She served as Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009.
Zille is a former journalist and anti-apartheid activist and was one of the journalists who exposed the cover-up around the death of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko while working for the Rand Daily Mail in the late 1970s. She also worked with the Black Sash and other pro-democracy groups during the 1980s. Zille speaks English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and German.
Following her departure from the premiership in May 2019, she joined the South African Institute of Race Relations as a senior policy fellow in July 2019, though she suspended her fellowship in October 2019. She started her own podcast, Tea with Helen, in August 2019. Zille has announced her intention to run for the mayorship of Johannesburg.
Early life and career
Early years, education and family Helen Zille was born in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, the eldest child of parents who separately left Germany in the 1930s to avoid Nazi persecution due to the fact that her maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother were Jewish.Schneider, Moira. Zille’s Jewish roots strike a poignant note at book launch , South African Jewish Report, 23 November 2016. Retrieved on 3 October 2019.
Zille was believed to be the grandniece of the Berlin painter Heinrich Zille. She gave corresponding hints by herself in the past but withdrew them in her autobiography published in 2016.Helen Zille: Not Without a Fight, Cape Town 2016, S. 19–20 (ISBN 978-1-77609-042-6). The Berlin genealogist Martina Rhode had documented before that there was a mix-up in the handwritten notes of her uncle Heinrich between people with the same name but different birthplaces and dates of birth.
Her mother was a volunteer with the Black Sash Advice Office. While her family lived in Rivonia, she was educated at Johannesburg's St Mary's School, Waverley, one of the city's private education schools. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. Around 1969, she joined the Young Progressives, the youth movement of the liberal and anti-apartheid Progressive Party.
Political journalism Zille began her career as a political correspondent for the Rand Daily Mail newspaper in 1974. During September 1977, the South African Minister of Justice and the Police J.T. Kruger announced that anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko had died in prison as the result of an extended hunger strike. Zille and her editor Allister Sparks were convinced Kruger's story was a cover-up, and Zille obtained concrete proof of this after tracking down and interviewing doctors involved in the case.
Consequent to the publication of the story, headlined "No sign of hunger strike—Biko doctors", Minister Kruger immediately threatened to ban the newspaper, and Zille received death threats. Zille and Sparks were represented at the subsequent quasi-judicial Press Council by defence lawyer Sydney Kentridge. The two were found to be guilty of "tendentious reporting", and the paper was forced to issue a correction. Kentridge later helped confirm the accuracy of Zille's account when he represented the Biko family at the inquest into his death. That inquest found Biko's death had been the result of a serious head injury but failed to find any individual responsible.
Zille resigned from the Rand Daily Mail along with editor Allister Sparks, after the paper's owner, Anglo American, demanded that Sparks quit the paper's equal rights rhetoric.
Anti-apartheid movement Zille was heavily involved in the Black Sash movement during the 1980s. She served on the regional and national executives of the organisation, and was also vice-chair of the End Conscription Campaign in the Western Cape. 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 safe house for political activists during the 1986 State of Emergency, and she was temporarily forced into hiding with their two-year-old son.
Zille 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.
Education policy work Zille formed a public policy consultancy in 1989, and in 1993 she was offered the position of Director of Development and Public Affairs at the University of Cape Town. During this time Zille also chaired the governing body of Grove Primary School, and in 1996 led a successful challenge against government policy limiting governing bodies' powers to appoint staff.
Zille was then invited by the Democratic Party (now the Democratic Alliance) to write a draft policy for Education in the Western Cape. In 1999 she became a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and was appointed MEC for Education.
In 2004, Zille became a Member of Parliament with the DA. Within the DA, she rose to the level of deputy federal chairperson and served as national party spokesperson and spokesperson for education.Campbell-Gillies, Victoria, Lindeque, Mia. Major milestones in Helen Zille's career, Johannesburg, EWN, 12 April 2015. Retrieved on 3 October 2019.
Mayoralty
2006 municipal elections and aftermath In the 2006 municipal elections, the DA became the single largest party in Cape Town with 42.0% of the vote, ahead of the African National Congress (ANC). Zille was elected mayor by 106 votes to 103 on 15 March 2006, after the DA obtained the support of several smaller parties.
Subsequently, Zille's multi-party government decided to revoke the appointment of Cape Town City Manager Wallace Mgoqi, whose term of appointment had been extended by the outgoing ANC executive mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo. Zille's decision was upheld by the High Court, which ruled that the extension of Mgoqi's appointment by the previous mayor had been unlawful.
Zille has faced considerable opposition and confrontation from the ANC. In September 2006, the provincial ANC MEC Richard Dyantyi announced that he planned to replace the city's mayoral system with an executive committee. The move would have resulted in reduced mayoral power, and the governing party would not itself have been able to assign the ten seats on the committee, which would instead have been allocated on a proportional representation basis. Dyanti and Zille agreed to retain the current mayoral system if the ANC were provided with two additional sub-committees in areas of the city controlled by the ANC. The matter was thus resolved.
Issues Zille's commitments as mayor included Cape Town's role as a designated host city for the 2010 World Cup, as well as the construction and financing of the Cape Town Stadium, which hosted 8 FIFA World Cup football matches in 2010.
A particular concern of Zille's was the problem of drug abuse in Cape Town, especially crystal methamphetamine (tik) abuse. She called for the promotion of drug rehabilitation centres and further funding from the government to battle drug abuse and met with local communities to discuss the issue.
Zille objected to plans to incorporate the metro police into the broader police service, arguing that such a move would remove considerable power from local government and vest more control in the hands of the National Police Commissioner at the time, Jackie Selebi, who was later convicted of corruption.
Achievements
Housing and service delivery Although provincial rather than local government is tasked with housing delivery,The role of Municipalities in the delivery of housing. , Knysna. Retrieved on 28 July 2019. Zille claimed that her municipality's efforts to reform housing lists and improve verification processes also allowed housing delivery to be increased from 3000 units per annum under the ANC, to 7000 units per annum between 2006 and 2008 under her administration as mayor.
In an article titled "The ANC is pro-poverty not pro-poor" published shortly before the 2009 general election, Zille pointed out that no budget allocation existed for upgrading informal settlements under the ANC administration, whereas in 2007 her administration had set a dedicated budget for the provision of water, electricity, and sanitation.
DA Leader
Election On 15 March 2007, Zille declared herself a candidate to succeed outgoing leader of the DA, Tony Leon. A favourite from the start, with backing from the Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, the Free State and even the Eastern Cape (regarded during much of the build-up as the stronghold of main rival Athol Trollip),Majova 2007. she was elected as the new leader by a large majority on 6 May 2007. She indicated that she would lead the party from outside Parliament, while continuing in her position as executive mayor of Cape Town.
Issues When she became the leader of the DA, Zille challenged the majority government on several issues.Mbeki and Zille meet on range of issues, Mail & Guardian, 28 August 2007. Retrieved on 28 July 2019.
Crime Of particular concern to Zille was the government's response to alarming crime statistics released in July 2007. She has accused the national government of rewarding criminals by placing individuals convicted of serious crimes high up on their national parliamentary lists. Zille has said that the DA would reinstate child protection units, the South African Narcotics Bureau and the Scorpions unit, all of which have been disbanded.
In August 2008, Zille announced proposals to boost the size of the police force to 250,000, employ an additional 30,000 detectives, improve detention programmes and use of information technology, and radically overhaul the justice system. She also said the party's comprehensive new crime plan would include provisions for a Victims of Crime Fund.
Health Zille warned against the controversial National Health Amendment Bill, legislation allowing greater state intervention in private health care. She warned that the state would destroy the system. She outlined the possibility that the Bill could drive away thousands of skilled medical professionals. Together with her political party she proposed an alternative health plan for the privatisation of state healthcare. The National Health Amendment Act became law in 2013, providing for the establishment of a new Office of Health Standards Compliance.
Judicial independence As DA leader, Zille has also frequently questioned judicial independence in South Africa, in light of the alleged behaviour of the Cape judge president John Hlophe in trying to influence the Constitutional Court judges to rule in favour of ANC president Jacob Zuma. She also cited racism directed towards those in the judiciary, and has criticised the perceived double standards vocally.
Political debate In June 2008, she challenged the president of the ANC and the 2009 presidential candidate, Jacob Zuma to a public debate on ten key issues such as the arms deal, disbanding of the Scorpions, the situation in Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS and labour legislation. Zuma declined to participate.
Campaign against drug and alcohol abuse