The Shadow Cabinet of
Mmusi Maimane
Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and Leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa, South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (So ...
was formed on 5 June 2014 following his election as Parliamentary Leader of the
Democratic Alliance and Leader of the Opposition on 29 May 2014. The Democratic Alliance parliamentary caucus also elected other caucus leadership.
John Steenhuisen
John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...
was elected Chief Whip with
Anchen Dreyer
Anchen Margaretha Dreyer (born 27 March 1952) is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance, and former Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance Caucus in the National Assembly. Before being elected ...
as Caucus Chairperson. These elections all occurred following the
2014 general elections, in which the Democratic Alliance retained its post as the Official Opposition in the
National Assembly of South Africa
The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...
.
The shadow cabinet has been reshuffled on various occasions. The first reshuffle occurred in October 2015, when Member of Parliament,
Dianne Kohler Barnard
Dianne Kohler Barnard is a South African politician and former journalist, and a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA). In October 2015, she was expelled from the party by the DA Federal Executive. In December 2015, the deci ...
, was demoted from her position due to her publishing a controversial Facebook post. The next occurred in November 2016, in the aftermath of the party's parliamentary mid-term caucus elections. The shadow cabinet was reshuffled for the third time in July 2017, following the departure of
Wilmot James
Wilmot Godfrey James (born 5 July 1953) is a South African academic who served as the country's opposition spokesperson of health and Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance. His constituencies were Mitchells Plain and Rondeb ...
.
Following the
2019 general elections, the Democratic Alliance remained the Official Opposition and the party subsequently held parliamentary caucus elections. Maimane returned to the position of Leader of the Opposition with
John Steenhuisen
John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...
as Chief Whip.
Annelie Lotriet
Annelie Lotriet (born 8 June 1960) is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance (DA) who is the Shadow Minister of Science and Technology and served as Acting Leader of the Opposition. She is also the prov ...
was elected Chairperson of the Caucus. Maimane announced the new shadow cabinet on 5 June 2019.
Maimane resigned as parliamentary leader of the DA on 24 October 2019, though the current shadow cabinet had been retained by acting parliamentary leader
Annelie Lotriet
Annelie Lotriet (born 8 June 1960) is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance (DA) who is the Shadow Minister of Science and Technology and served as Acting Leader of the Opposition. She is also the prov ...
.
John Steenhuisen
John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...
has since been elected parliamentary leader and he announced his
shadow cabinet in December 2020.
Formation
Mmusi Maimane
Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and Leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa, South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (So ...
was elected unopposed as the parliamentary leader of the
Democratic Alliance and
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 ...
in the
National Assembly of South Africa
The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...
on 29 May 2014, effectively becoming the party's second
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
parliamentary leader, following the retirement of
Lindiwe Mazibuko
Lindiwe Mazibuko (born 9 April 1980) is a Swazi-born South African academic, former politician, musician and the former leader of the Official Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). She was elected DA Parliamentary Leader on 27 October 2011, beat ...
.
[DA announces team in Parliament](_blank)
Cape Town, ''IOL
Cherchell (Arabic: شرشال) is a town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, west of Algiers. It is the seat of Cherchell District in Tipaza Province. Under the names Iol and Caesarea, it was formerly a Roman colony and the capital of the kin ...
'', 29 May 2014. Retrieved on 24 August 2019. Although the media speculated that Democratic Alliance Federal Leader
Helen Zille
Otta Helene Maree (''née'' Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she w ...
would run for the post, she opted to remain
Premier of the Western Cape
The Premier of the Western Cape is the head of government of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The current Premier of the Western Cape is Alan Winde, a member of the Democratic Alliance, who was elected in the 2019 election. He took o ...
.
Alongside the election for parliamentary leader, other party caucus leadership elections were also held.
John Steenhuisen
John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...
was elected chief whip, succeeding party veteran
Watty Watson.
Sandy Kalyan and
Michael Waters were both nominated for the post of deputy chief whip. Waters inevitably defeated Kalyan. Several whips were also elected.
Anchen Dreyer
Anchen Margaretha Dreyer (born 27 March 1952) is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance, and former Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance Caucus in the National Assembly. Before being elected ...
and
Richard Majola
Thembekile Richard Majola is a South African politician who serves as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the Democratic Alliance (DA). He became an MP in May 2014. He was the deputy speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parl ...
contested the election for the post of caucus chairperson. Dreyer was elected caucus chairperson with Majola as Deputy Caucus Chairperson.
Elza van Lingen secured a second term as the party's leader in the
National Council of Provinces
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ma ...
, while
Cathlene Labuschagne was named the party's whip in the NCOP.
On 5 June 2014, Maimane announced the composition of his shadow cabinet. Upon the announcement, he said, "This shadow cabinet will make pragmatic legislative proposals that will tackle South Africa's problems head-on, with a commitment to the creation of real jobs in South Africa."
Membership
2014–2019
Members of the Shadow Cabinet
Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane announced the latest changes to the Shadow Cabinet on 1 June 2017.
Shadow Ministers in Standing Committees in the
National Assembly of South Africa
The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...
Parliamentary Caucus Leadership
Parliamentary leadership team following internal caucus elections on 29 May 2014.
2019
Members of the Shadow Cabinet
The following table depicted the composition of the shadow cabinet announced on 5 June 2019.
Shadow Ministers in Standing Committees in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
Parliamentary Caucus Leadership
Parliamentary leadership team following internal caucus elections on 30 May 2019.
[Mokone, Thabo. ]
DA names parliamentary leaders as it aims to tackle ANC head-on
''TimesLIVE'', 30 May 2019. Retrieved on 24 August 2019.
References
{{Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
South African shadow cabinets
Democratic Alliance (South Africa)