London, GB | Formerly of New York, Buenos Aires, Fife, and the Western Cape. | Saoránach d’Éirinn.

The Mayoress of Cape Town

Die Burgemeester van Kaapstad

AND SO, Helen Zille, the Mayor of Cape Town, has been elected Leader of the Opposition in South Africa, a somewhat curious choice to head the country’s (liberal) Democratic Alliance against the current government (the ANC alliance of racial nationalists, the Communist Party, and the trade union confederation) as she is not actually a member of parliament and has stated that she has no intention of seeking election to that body. If only she would bring a little more reserve to the council chamber, a virtue she is sadly lacking (as evidenced in pictures above and below).

Ms. Zille has a reputation as a bit of a go-get-em mayor, and something of a pragmatist, which is welcome, as any efforts that chip away at the rule of the noxious African National Congress are wholeheartedly welcome. And she’d have to try hard to be any worse in her new job than her noxious predecessor, ‘Tony’ Leon. While we would probably vote (depending on geography) for the Inkhata Freedom Party or the Vryheidsfront, we wish Ms. Zille luck as Leader of the Opposition.

Published at 11:05 pm on Monday 14 May 2007. Categories: Cape Town Politics South Africa Tags: .
Comments

I love the Indian woman in the front row thinking to herself, “Well I didn’t vote for her, I’m not going to clap!”

— Rob H. 15 May 2007 7:13 am

That looks like Bertha Esbach on the left of the photo. She voted for Helen in that election (the photo was taken immediately after her election as Mayor of Cape Town). The man on the right of the photo is Ian Nielson, a great friend of mine and the real back-room-boy of the city administration. Helen says what cogs must turn, and Ian makes them turn.

I was at the Federal Congress that elected Helen leader of the party. You should have seen the celebrations after that win. We felt very little sense of reserve after that!

See here (http://www.da.org.za/DA/Site/Eng/News/Article.asp?ID=7578) for Helen’s leadership acceptance speech to get an idea of where she’s going.

— DA Mal 16 May 2007 1:53 am

Rob H.,

How do you know that she is Indian? Do you know her (or about her) personally?

Just curious

— latinmass1983 16 May 2007 8:52 am

the ANC alliance of racial nationalists…

And the Freedom Front aren’t?

— cirdan 26 May 2007 1:49 am

Did anyone say they aren’t?

Don’t interpret an explanatory description as a value judgement!

— Andrew Cusack 26 May 2007 1:31 pm
Leave a comment

NAME (required)

EMAIL (required)

WEBSITE (not required)

COMMENT

Home | About | Contact | Paginated Index | Twitter | Facebook | RSS/Atom Feed
andrewcusack.com | © Andrew Cusack 2004-present (Unless otherwise stated)