Thomas Charles Ravenscroft Walters (born 30 January 1976) is a South African politician of the Democratic Alliance (DA) who has been serving as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2014. He served as a Member of the

Gauteng Provincial Legislature The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 73 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the sixth, was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African Natio ...

from 2009 to 2014. In 2012, Walters was elected Deputy Federal Council Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance, and has been deputising Federal Council Chairperson

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 ...

since 2019. He deputised

James Selfe James Selfe (born 23 August 1955) is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), and the party's former Federal Council Chairperson. He is also the party's Shadow Minister of Correctional Serv ...

from 2012 to 2019. Walters was the party's Shadow Minister and Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform.

Early life and career

Thomas Walters obtained a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

. He also completed the Management Advancement Programme at the

Wits Business School The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The univer ...

. He later attained a Masters of Business Administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science and the University of Pretoria's Business School.

Political career

Walters was a student leader of the now-defunct Democratic Party. He had also served as the Democratic Alliance's Federal Youth Chairperson. He was later elected to the Johannesburg City Council as a DA councillor. Walters was elected to the

in April 2009. He was appointed the party's Provincial Spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Development. In November 2009, he was elected Provincial Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance in Gauteng. Walters stood down as Provincial Chairperson in March 2012, and Mike Moriarty was elected to succeed him. In November 2012, Walters was elected Deputy Chairperson of the

Democratic Alliance Federal Council The Democratic Alliance Federal Council (FedCo) is the governing and policy-making body of the Democratic Alliance, the official opposition party in South Africa. It sits when the party's Federal Congress is not in session. It has been chaired by ...

, defeating

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 ...

. During the 2014 general election that was held on 7 May, Walters was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa. He was sworn in as an MP on 21 May 2014. In June 2014, the Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance,

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's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political ...

, appointed Walters as Shadow Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. Walters was later demoted to Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. In 2015, he was re-elected as deputy chairperson of the DA's Federal Council. He won another term at the party's 2018 Federal Congress. Also, at the 2018 Federal Congress, DA delegates voted to add another deputy chairperson to the Federal Council and Natasha Mazzone was elected to fill the position. Walters left the Shadow Cabinet in June 2019. In October 2019, Walters declared his intention to contest the DA Federal Council chairpersonship election after

had announced his retirement.

won the election. He was re-elected as a deputy chairperson of the DA Federal Council at the party's elective congress in October 2020. He now serves alongside

James Masango James Masango is a South African politician, and a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). He currently serves in the national leadership as deputy chairperson of the Federal Council, and as a municipal councillor for the DA in Govan ...

and Ashor Sarupen (later elected in a special election). Helen Zille remains the chairperson of the federal council.

References

External links

People's Assembly profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Thomas Living people Stellenbosch University alumni University of the Witwatersrand alumni Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1976 births People from Gauteng Politicians from Gauteng Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Democratic Party (South Africa) politicians 21st-century South African politicians