{"id":857209,"date":"2026-04-27T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=857209"},"modified":"2026-04-24T16:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:56:15","slug":"south-african-who-went-from-the-youngest-member-of-parliament-to-the-leader-of-a-world-class-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/857209\/south-african-who-went-from-the-youngest-member-of-parliament-to-the-leader-of-a-world-class-city\/","title":{"rendered":"South African who went from the youngest member of parliament to the leader of a world-class city"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Geordin Hill-Lewis, the mayor of Cape Town, was elected as the new Federal Leader of South Africa’s second-biggest political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), on 12 April 2026, succeeding John Steenhuisen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in Plettenberg Bay, Hill-Lewis grew up in Cape Town, where he completed his schooling and eventually earned a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics from UCT, followed by a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was first elected to Parliament in 2011, at 24 years old, becoming the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) to be elected since 1994, the start of a democratic South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to this, Hill-Lewis served as chief of staff to Helen Zille for five years, who was the leader of the DA and Premier of the Western Cape at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 2017 to 2019, he also served as chief of staff to former DA leader Mmusi Maimane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2021, Hill-Lewis has been the mayor of Cape Town, which was named the best city in the world by the Telegraph Travel Awards 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Telegraph said that Cape Town’s photogenic qualities, winelands, and consistency make it a suitable candidate for first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, the beaches of Camps Bay and the Cape of Good Hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our ambition must be to lead the national government. That is the next chapter in our party\u2019s proud history,” he said in his acceptance speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hill-Lewis reportedly plans to run for another term as Cape Town’s mayor rather than accept a cabinet position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes this decision will allow him to better distinguish the DA from the African National Congress (ANC), as he won’t have to report to President Ramaphosa daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Under my leadership, the DA will fight every day to shape the direction of government so that it reflects our values,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And that is why we must continue to oppose policies in the GNU that block our country\u2019s progress.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evolution of the Democratic Alliance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The DA, which is the second-biggest political party in South Africa, originated when thirteen MPs left the United Party (UP) to form the Progressive Party (PP) in 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PP was a party dedicated to opposing apartheid, challenging the National Party (NP) at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PP won its first seat in Parliament in 1961, and Helen Suzman waged campaigns against apartheid legislation, some of which included pass laws, the Group Areas Act, and forced removals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this time, she demanded trade union rights for all South Africans while fighting for better wages and working conditions for all citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party became known as the Progressive Reform Party (PRP) in 1977, after merging with the Reform Party. The PRP then merged with the Committee for a United Opposition to form the Progressive Federal Party (PFP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same year, the PFP was elected official opposition. During a State of Emergency in 1989, the Conservative Party, which had broken away from the NP, took over as the official opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1989, the PFP merged with the Independent Party and the National Democratic Movement to form the Democratic Party (DP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1995 municipal elections saw the DP grow, overtaking the NP to become the largest opposition party in the 1999 general elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2000, the DP reached a merger agreement with the Federal Alliance and the New National Party (NNP), forming what is still known as the Democratic Alliance (DA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2004, the DA won 50 seats in the National Assembly and increased its vote total by 400,000. In 2006, Helen Zille was elected mayor and Leader of the DA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party increased its national vote share to 16.3% and became the largest party in Cape Town. In 2009, the DA won the majority of the votes in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, Mmusi Maimane was elected as the DA’s new leader. In 2016, the party formed governments in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, the DA formally joined the Government of National Unity (GNU) “to help stabilise the country and drive reform”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geordin Hill-Lewis, the mayor of Cape Town, was elected as the new Federal Leader of South Africa’s second-biggest political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), on 12 April 2025, succeeding John Steenhuisen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":857249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[20392,2783],"class_list":["post-857209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-democratic-aliance-da","tag-geordin-hill-lewis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857209"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857319,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857209\/revisions\/857319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}