Mmusi Maimane

Early years, education and family

Maimane was born on 6 June 1980, at the Leratong Hospital in Krugersdorp, Gauteng. His mother, Ethel Maimane, grew up in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape, and is of Xhosa ancestry in the Sidloyi clan. His father, Simon Maimane, was born in Soweto in Gauteng, and is of Tswana ancestry in the Bafokeng clan. His parents met in 1977 and were married by 1980 in Dobsonville, Soweto, Gauteng.

Maimane grew up in Soweto, and attended Allen Glen High School, where he matriculated in 1997. Maimane graduated from the University of South Africa (BA Psychology), the University of the Witwatersrand (Masters in Public Administration), and Bangor University, Wales (Masters in Theology). While studying for his Masters in Public Administration, Maimane served as Class Co-ordinator at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Political career

In 2010 Maimane applied to run as a DA candidate for Johannesburg City Council and also for internal election as the DA candidate for Mayor of Johannesburg. Maimane was selected as DA National Spokesperson later in 2011.

At the 2012 DA Federal Congress, Maimane was elected as Deputy Federal Chairperson, ahead of eight other candidates.

Maimane applied to run as the DA candidate for Gauteng Premier in 2013. He was successful in this internal race, and stood as the DA candidate for Gauteng Premier during the 2014 national election.

On 18 April 2015, at the DA Western Cape Congress Maimane announced that he would run for Federal Leader of the DA at its elective Federal Congress in May 2015 and he was elected as Federal Leader of the DA on 10 May 2015, with the support of almost 90% of voting delegates.

Mayoral race: 2011

Maimane's Johannesburg mayoral candidacy was announced at the DA Election Manifesto Launch at Walter Sisulu Square in Soweto. He defeated contender Vasco da Gama, a councillor in Johannesburg City Council, to be elected as the DA mayoral candidate for Johannesburg before a panel of 30 people, including party leader, Helen Zille.

The DA achieved 34.6% of the vote in the 2011 Local Government Elections in Johannesburg, with 752,304 votes. He led a caucus of 90 members of the 260 seats in Johannesburg City Council. The mayoral seat was won by the ANC and Maimane therefore took up the position of Leader of the Official Opposition.

In Council, Maimane served on the Finance Committee, and on the Governance Committee that he had personally pushed to have constituted.

2014 Gauteng Premier campaign

On 31 July 2013 Maimane announced his intention to run for DA Gauteng Premier Candidate in the 2014 Elections at Baliskis in Alexandra township. Two opponents joined the internal race, DA Gauteng Health spokesperson, Jack Bloom and unknown outsider Vaughan Reineke. Reineke withdrew before the internal election was held. Maimane emerged as the duly elected DA Gauteng Premier Candidate, on 9 August 2013.

On 2 September, in Vusimusi in Tembisa in Gauteng, Maimane visited small business owners to discuss the impact that e-Tolls would have on their business.

On 12 September Maimane made his first public address as DA Gauteng Premier Candidate, when he addressed a rally of survivors of the Marikana Massacre on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Gauteng.

By late-September 2013 Maimane had a campaign bus to transfer him between campaign stops on a daily basis. The customised vehicle was launched to the media in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, on 21 September 2013, where few people turned up. The Believe Bus delivered Maimane to campaign events across Gauteng, traveling to over 350 locations in the nine-month campaign period.

After announcement of his candidacy for Gauteng Premier, on 9 August 2013, Maimane assembled a campaign team for the duration of a nine-month campaign until Election 2014, drawing from the ranks of the DA. DA Provincial Communications head Jamie-Ryan Turkington was made Maimane's Chief of Staff.

March 2014 Approval Rating

In a March 2014 Ipsos poll, Gauteng respondents were asked to rate him from 1 to 10 (with 1 being "totally against" and 10 being "totally in favour"), the result was an average of 4.9. Among only DA voters, just 8% rated him between 8 and 10. In the other direction, 27% of Gauteng residents rated him between 0 and 2 or "totally against".

Campaign controversies

Ahead of the 2014 national elections, Mmusi appeared in a political advert titled "Ayisafani" which suggested that the ANC under the leadership of Jacob Zuma had fallen from grace. The advert was banned by the SABC after it was flighted on April 8 and 9 under the defence that the advert incited violence. The DA laid a complaint with Icasa, and a public hearing was held. The DA and SABC came to an agreement on April 16, after which the broadcaster again aired the advert.

Leader of the Opposition

The DA grew its share of the vote in Gauteng substantially in the 2014 election with Maimane at the helm, but the ANC retained control of the province. Following this, Maimane opted against serving in the provincial legislature and was instead sworn in as a member of the National Assembly of South Africa

The DA's parliamentary caucus met on 29 May 2014 to decide on a new parliamentary leadership. Maimane was the only candidate for the post of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and was elected as the new Leader of the Opposition, becoming the first black male to hold the position in South Africa's history.

On 5 June 2014, at Parliament in Cape Town, Maimane announced his Shadow Cabinet.

Leader of the Democratic Alliance

On May 10, 2015, Maimane was elected leader of the DA at the party's 2015 Federal Congress in Port Elizabeth. He defeated party chairperson Wilmot James, winning close to 90% of the vote.[3] He was backed by prominent businessman Herman Mashaba. He succeeded Western Cape Premier Helen Zille as leader of the party and became the first black South African to lead the DA, as well as its youngest leader to date.

In October 2015, Maimane faced the first real test of his leadership when he had to deal with the controversy that erupted over DA Shadow Minister of Police, Dianne Kohler Barnard. Kohler Barnard faced internal DA disciplinary action after controversially sharing on her Facebook page a post from someone else suggesting that life in South Africa was better under former apartheid President PW Botha. She subsequently deleted the post. Seemingly, the first instruction to Kohler Barnard to delete the post came from former DA leader Helen Zille. Kohler Barnard apologised unreservedly for her action, and Maimane subsequently demoted her to the position of shadow Deputy Minister of Public Works in a wider shadow cabinet reshuffle. Kohler Barnard stated that she was considering her position, while Maimane came under pressure to expel her from the DA, and his leadership was called into question. The controversy has also damaged the DA's relations with COPE. The Federal Executive of the DA decided to expel Kohler Barnard from the party, although the decision was subsequently reversed on appeal. Maimane argued that action against Kohler Barnard would have implications for perceptions of the DA amongst black voters, implying that political expediency may trump the merits of the case, and the fall-out from the affair appears to be threatening Maimane's leadership of the DA. The whole affair has, according to James Selfe, Chair of the party's Federal Council, caused 'massive damage' to the DA and appears likely to hurt them in the polls. Maimane appeared increasingly weak in his responses to and management of the affair.

In January 2016, Maimane set out a new stance for the DA on the issue of racism, in which he called on racists not to vote for the DA, and spelt out a charter on racism that all new DA members will have to commit to when they join the party. He also announced that the DA would introduce equity targets when the DA selects candidates for public office in order to make the party more diverse and reflective of the country as a whole.

Maimane's understanding of the rule of law has been called into question in the context of utterances he made relating to the conviction and jailing of King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, who was previously controversially welcomed into the DA. Maimane also became embroiled in a controversy around declaration of interests as one of a number of MPs who failed to declare campaign contributions.

Later in October 2015, Maimane was booed and chased from the University of Cape Town campus when he tried to address students protesting against fee increases, and was subsequently criticised by younger members of his own party for failing to show sufficient solidarity with students protesting over the increases.

In early 2017, Maimane made a controversial visit to Israel.

In March 2017, Maimane faced another leadership test as a result of controversial tweets from Helen Zille that appeared to be a partial defence of colonialism. Zille subsequently apologised and, in a seeming repeat of the Kholer-Barnard affair, Maimane has now referred the matter to a DA disciplinary process. Various commentators have called on Zille (still Premier of the Western Cape) to resign or be fired. According to one source Maimane has also called on Zille to step down as Western Cape Premier, but she has refused.

Personal life

Maimane has been married to Natalie Maimane since 2005. They have two children.