Nicholas John Clelland (born 25 February 1972) is a South African politician, communications professional and author.

Political career

Clelland was elected to the Durban Metropolitan Council in 1996. He was then elected as a

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Member of Parliament'Who is the real opposition?’ Politicsweb 27 July 2007
/ref> in 1999 at the age of 27, making him one of South Africa's youngest Members of Parliament.'Youngest ex-MP takes over communications' IOL 26 January 2010
/ref> Clelland served as Parliamentary Counsellor to the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

and as the Democratic Alliance's first National Spokesperson. On an oversight trip to Zimbabwe, with Tony Leon after the February 2000 referendum on the draft constitution, then ZANU–PF Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa characterised their trip as ''interference in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs'' and ''treacherous''. In 2007, in New Zealand, Clelland was appointed

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to Auckland mayor

John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to: Politics and law *Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament * John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania *John Gray Banks (188 ...

. Returning to South Africa in 2009, then Western Cape Minister of Transport, Robin Carlisle, appointed Clelland as his Chief of Staff where he conceptualised and launched the government's ''Safely Home'' road safety campaign that, ultimately, achieved a 25.9% reduction in fatalities in two and a half years. In 2010 Clelland took up the role of Director of Strategic Communication for the Western Cape Government. In this position – together with Dan Ariely - he devised and designed a behavioural economics pilot on HIV testing which saw a 30% increase in monthly HIV testing figures.

Communications professional

Former DA Leader, Tony Leon and Clelland founde
Resolve Communications (Pty) Ltd
in 2013 where he served as its chief executive officer until October 2018 when he was succeeded by

Gavin Davis Gavin Davis (born 3 August 1977) is a former Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa's official opposition. Background Davis was born in London in the United Kingdom, but grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. He ho ...

. Clelland is credited with re-defining the concept of “Day Zero” during the 2017/2018 water crisis in Cape Town which was used, with great effect, to change and to sustain reduction in water consumption.

Author

Clelland and

Ryan Coetzee Ryan Nicolas Coetzee (born 8 January 1973) is a South African politician and political strategist, who served as special adviser to Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg and was the 2015 General Election Director of Strategy at ...

authored ''Spin – The art of managing the media'' (2018 Penguin Books).’Nic Clelland’ Renegade Report 29 May 2018
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clelland, Nick Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians 1972 births Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Living people