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Having gone into opposition in the Western Cape in 2001 when the NNP formed a new coalition with the ANC, the demise of the NNP made the province a natural target for the party. The party also became kingmakers in the Western Cape province, where it formed a coalition government with the NNP. The modern day DA is in large part a product of the white parliamentary opposition to the ruling National Party. The party has also governed the Western Cape, one of the country's nine provinces, with a majority since the 2009 general election. The current leader of the party is Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who assumed leadership on 12 April 2026, after the party's Federal Congress. The DA has a variety of ideologically liberal tendencies, including neoliberalism, social liberalism, classical liberalism, and conservative liberalism.
The ANC issued a detailed critique of the campaign, focusing especially on Suzman's role in the apartheid parliament. In May 2026, the party set out a 100-day crime plan that included lifestyle audits of police officers, rebuilding Crime Intelligence and giving local governments a greater role in crime prevention. Partially on the basis of this campaign the DA contested the 2014 general election, where it once again grew its support base but failed in its stated goal of winning Gauteng province. This campaign focused mainly on the role played by a few key individuals in opposing apartheid – particularly Helen Suzman and Helen Zille.
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- The DA supports guaranteed access to a core minimum of resources for each school, proper state school nutrition schemes for grade 1–12 learners, and measures to train 30,000 additional teachers per year.
- Following the election of Geordin Hill-Lewis as Federal Leader in April 2026, the DA intensified its focus on crime, with Hill-Lewis describing crime as a national crisis and saying that South Africans could not be truly free if they did not feel safe in their homes, schools and businesses.
- This formed the basis of the philosophy underlying the party's 2009 Election Manifesto, which seeks to build a society by linking outcomes to "opportunity, effort and ability".
- The DA supports an inflation-targeting monetary policy regime similar to that of the ANC government.
- The party suggests that by relaxing certain regulations in these zones, manufacturers and exporters would be able to grow faster and employ more people.
- When municipalities collapse, crime thrives.
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In the general elections of 2019, the DA's national support declined for the first time in its history. The campaign received a certain amount of media attention, much of it somewhat sceptical. In her newsletter, she wrote that, "winning power in the Western Cape will allow us to show what cooperative governance between local authorities and a province can achieve." In the 2011 local government elections, the party won control of most of the municipalities in the Western Cape. Zille said the new DA would be, "more reflective of our rich racial, linguistic, and cultural heritage," and emphasized that she wanted it to be a "party for all the people" and not decline into a "shrinking, irrelevant minority."
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A legacy of leadership The Democratic Alliance did not become the party it is today by accident. Johannesburg is a city of incredible people and untapped potential. When municipalities collapse, crime thrives. Welcome to the DA’s dedicated page for our role in the Government of National Unity (GNU). Law enforcement official Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi reportedly also accused the party Spokesperson on State Security, Dianne Kohler Barnard, of being a part of a crime syndicate.
Intimate Sleeping Keeper
Previously the DA Abroad was led by Ludre Stevens between 2009 and 2015 and then by Francine Higham between 2015 and 2019 with Morné Van der Waltsleben as Global Operations Chair from 2013 to 2017. The Democratic Alliance Youth (DA Youth), which came officially into being in late 2008, was first led by Makashule Gana until 2013, Mbali Ntuli led between 2013 and 2014, Yusuf Cassim led from 2014 to 2018 and Luyolo Mphithi led from 2018 to 2022. The party says that it is committed to ensuring that those entitled to land receive it in the form of direct ownership, and not as lifelong tenants. This fits into the party's broader vision of growing the economy by cutting red tape and regulations it claims is holding back South Africa's economic growth. The party suggests that by relaxing certain regulations in these zones, manufacturers and exporters would be able to grow faster and employ more people. The DA also supports the creation of Industrial Development Zones and Export Processing Zones.
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The party's health policy also plans to devote more resources to vaccinations against common childhood illnesses. The DA's "Quality Care for All" programme is focused on tackling the country's high HIV/AIDS infection rate. The DA supports guaranteed access to a core minimum of resources for each school, proper state school nutrition schemes for grade 1–12 learners, and measures to train 30,000 additional teachers per year. The DA's education programme, "Preparing for Success", focuses on providing adequate physical and human resources to underperforming schools. The party also supports a universal old age pension, and the abolishment of pension means tests.
Injuries reported from Dadyal; Mirpur and Bhimber witness peaceful protests; teargas used to disperse people at Muzaffarabad’s Airport Chowk.
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The DA supports an inflation-targeting monetary policy regime similar to that of the ANC government. Other fiscal interventions have included a proposed scrapping of value added tax (VAT) on books and tax rebates for crime prevention expenditure by businesses. This is evident in the party's previous alternative budget frameworks, with both alternative budgets posting deficits.
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Current policies
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In addition, to aid with youth development skills, the party proposed a R6000 opportunity voucher or twelve month community service programme to all high school matriculants. The party also supports legislation that would require the legal guardians of children living in poverty to ensure that their child attends 85 per cent of school classes, and undergoes routine health check-ups. Following the election of Geordin Hill-Lewis as Federal Leader in April 2026, the DA intensified its focus on crime, with Hill-Lewis describing crime as a national crisis and saying that South Africans could not be truly free if they did not feel safe in their homes, schools and businesses. The party adopted a resolution declaring farm attacks and murders as hate crimes at its 2020 Federal Congress. The DA strongly opposed the disbandment of the Scorpions crime investigation unit, and similar efforts to centralise the police service such as the nationwide disbandment of specialised Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units.
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Social development
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In addition, the party announced its support for a prison labour programme, which would put prisoners to work in various community upliftment programmes. The party also announced plans to employ 30,000 additional detectives and forensics experts and 500 more prosecutors, in order to reduce court backlogs, and establish a Directorate for Victims of Crime, which would provide funding and support for crime victims. In the DA's crime plan, "Conquering Fear, Commanding Hope", the DA committed itself to increasing the number of police officers to 250,000.
Cuthbert filled the position nearly five years after the previous CEO Simon Dickinson resigned following a year in the role. During his speech in his hometown of aperitivo menu Durban, Steenhuisen highlighted the major success of the DA, under his leadership, of joining the ruling national government for the first time, after the party played a major role in the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU). The ANC failed to gain a majority of seats in the National Assembly after the election, leading to the DA agreeing to form a coalition of national unity (Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa), entering ruling government for the first time. In 2013, the DA launched the "Know Your DA" campaign, in an attempt to try to show that the DA (via its proxy predecessor organisations) was involved in the struggle against apartheid.
During this time, the party was led by liberal-minded opponents of Apartheid, such as Jan Steytler, Helen Suzman, Zach de Beer, Colin Eglin, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Harry Schwarz. The restaurant is not available for this day/time. The DA Abroad aims to grow the DA's overseas voter base, actively lobby for international awareness and influence for the furtherance of policies and action programmes of the DA and develop a global interconnected community that supports an open opportunity society for all. However, the DA, like the ANC, supports a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, seeking peaceful resolution between the two, and for Palestine to be free, saying "the people of Palestine are not defined by Hamas". These interventions include a wage subsidy programme to reduce the cost of hiring first-time workers.