The man who created the DA and took the party from 338,000 to 2.9 million votes
Tony Leon is political royalty, having made the DA the second-largest party in South Africa and serving as Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
Leon’s political career dates back to 1974, when, at the age of 18, he became an organiser for the Progressive Party.
After he qualified as an attorney at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1986, he was elected to the Johannesburg City Council for the Yeoville ward.
In 1989, he was elected to Parliament for the Houghton constituency, representing the Progressive Party’s successor, the Democratic Party.
In the 1994 general elections, Leon was again elected to Parliament and as leader of the Democratic Party.
At the time, the Democratic Party was perceived as a minor party of white liberals. However, under Leon’s leadership, this quickly changed.
The Democratic Party, which had only seven members in Parliament, was very active and showed strong growth.
Leon told Newsday that they did not want to confine the party to being an ethnic party, and its 1999 campaign appealed to all South Africans.
It did very well among minority communities, and, in the 1999 national elections, received 1.5 million votes.
“It catapulted the DA from being the fifth largest party in South Africa to being the second largest,” he said. It was now the official opposition.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) was formed in 2000
On 24 June 2000, under Leon’s leadership, the Democratic Alliance (DA) was formed through a merger agreement among three political parties.
These three parties were the Democratic Party (DP), the New National Party (NNP), and the Federal Alliance (FA).
While other political parties struggled to show growth amidst the ANC’s dominance, the Democratic Alliance continued its momentum.
In the 2004 general elections, the party received 1.9 million votes and strengthened its position as the second-largest political party in South Africa.
In the 2006 local government elections, the Democratic Alliance won Cape Town for the first time. This was a significant achievement.
“When that happened in 2006, I thought I had done what I could do, and it was time for me to make my way out of the leadership,” he said.
In 2007, after nearly two decades in Parliament and 13 years leading his party, he stepped down as leader of the Democratic Alliance.
In the 2009 general elections, the Democratic Alliance further strengthened its position with 2.9 million votes.
This performance cemented Leon’s position as the most successful political leader in democratic South Africa.
Tony Leon’s life after the Democratic Alliance
After stepping down as DA leader, he was awarded a Fellowship at the Institute of Politics, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
He led a study group and seminar series on Development and Democracy in Africa at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In 2008, he was invited as a fellow to the Cato Institute in Washington DC, where he published a paper on liberal democracy in Africa.
In 2009, the President of South Africa nominated him as South African Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. He served in this role until 2012.
On his return to South Africa, he entered the business world by founding Resolve Communications and consulting with businesses in South America and South Africa.
He is also a prolific writer. He writes columns for South Africa’s leading publications and has penned five books.
These include “Hope and Fear: Reflections of a Democrat”, “The Accidental Ambassador”, and “Opposite Mandela – Encounters with South Africa’s Icon”.
His bestseller, “On the Contrary: Leading the Opposition in a Democratic South Africa”, won the prestigious Recht Malan Prize for nonfiction.
His book “Future Tense -Reflections on my Troubled Land” was published in both South Africa and the United Kingdom.
In 2016 and 2017, he was also a visiting professor of political practice at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, IDC, Herzliya, Israel.
Tony Leon photos
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