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Vol 56 No 10

Published 15th May 2015


South Africa

Maimane wins leadership

The Democratic Alliance has voted in its first black leader and hopes for big gains in the 2016 local elections

The emergence of Mmusi Maimane, a 35-year old priest from Soweto, as the dapper new leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance after its party congress in Port Elizabeth on 10 May has given the DA a quick political boost. Fluent in six national languages, Maimane has a speaking style that draws heavily on his religious training, though occasionally he injects a political sting. As leader of the DA caucus at the opening of Parliament in February, Maimane told President Jacob Zuma that he was a 'broken man presiding over a broken country'. It was a jibe all the more poignant because Maimane hails from a family which strongly supports the governing African National Congress.

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