Helen Zille

The Honourable Helen Zille
Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 October 2019
Deputy	Annelie Lotriet Thomas Walters James Masango Ashor Sarupen
Leader	John Steenhuisen Mmusi Maimane
Preceded by	James Selfe
Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance
In office 6 May 2007 – 10 May 2015
Preceded by	Tony Leon
Succeeded by	Mmusi Maimane
7th Premier of the Western Cape
In office 6 May 2009 – 22 May 2019
Preceded by	Lynne Brown
Succeeded by	Alan Winde
Mayor of Cape Town
In office 15 March 2006 – 30 April 2009
Deputy	Grant Haskin
Preceded by	Nomaindia Mfeketo
Succeeded by	Grant Haskin (acting) Dan Plato
Member of the National Assembly of South Africa
In office 14 April 2004 – 15 March 2006
Constituency	Western Cape
Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
In office 6 May 2009 – 7 May 2019
Director of Communications and Public Relations at the University of Cape Town
In office 15 June 1999 – 13 April 2004
Personal details
Born	Otta Helene Zille (1951-03-09) 9 March 1951 (age 73) Johannesburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Political party	Democratic Alliance (2000–present)
Other political affiliations	Democratic Party (before 2000)
Spouse	Johann Maree ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	2
Residence(s)	Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Alma mater	St Mary's School, Waverley University of the Witwatersrand
Occupation	Politician legislator activist
Profession	Journalist

Otta Helene Maree (née Zille /ˈzɪlə/;^[1] 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 was the Premier of the Western Cape province for two five-year terms,^[2] and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.^[3] She served as Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009.

Zille is a former journalist and anti-apartheid activist^[4][5][6] and was one of the journalists who exposed the cover-up around the death of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko while working for the Rand Daily Mail in the late 1970s.^[7] She also worked with the Black Sash and other pro-democracy groups during the 1980s.^[8] In the political arena, Zille has served in all three tiers of government, as the Western Cape's education MEC (1999–2001), as a Member of Parliament (2004–2006), as Mayor of Cape Town (2006–2009), and as Premier of the Western Cape (2009–2019).

Zille was selected as World Mayor of the Year in 2008.^[9][10] She was also chosen as Newsmaker of the Year 2006 by the National Press Club in July 2007. Zille speaks English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and German.^[11]

Following her departure from the premiership in May 2019, she joined the South African Institute of Race Relations as a senior policy fellow in July 2019, though she suspended her fellowship in October 2019.^[12] She started her own podcast, Tea with Helen, in August 2019.^[13] Zille declared her candidacy for Federal Council Chairperson of the DA in October 2019.^[14] She won the election.