History of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
The SAP was a merger of the South African Party and the Afrikaner Bond of the Cape Colony, Het Volk of Transvaal and Orangia Unie of the Orange Free State.
In the Cape Colony, the SAP were proponents of a multiracial franchise, and its most prominent members were John Xavier Merriman and William Phillip Schreinier, whereas the Progressives led by Cecil Rhodes and Leander Starr Jameson were more firmly pro-British in orientation.
In the Union, the SAP was a broad-based party committed to unity between Afrikaners and English-speakers, typified by its leaders Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.
For 13 years she was the only opponent of racial discrimination and other apartheid regime's abuses in the whites-only parliament, fighting against detention without trial, pass laws and influx control.
At the same time, disaffected NP members such as Dennis Worrall and Wynand Malan broke away and later formed the Independent Party which absorbed the remaining base of the NRP.
The PFP was ousted as the official opposition by the far-right Conservative Party in the whites-only parliamentary elections held on 6 May 1987.
This electoral blow led many of the PFP's leaders to question the value of participating in the whites-only parliament, and some of its MPs left to join the National Democratic Movement (NDM).
PFP Colin Eglin launched the attack on the bill, stating that it was an attempt by the National Party to "muzzle the press and deny the public right to know".
It also included freedom from deprivation of life, liberty, security and property, except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
[8] Helen Suzman, Shadow Law and Order Minister, argued that the exclusion of the bill would lead to "a further loss of civil liberties by all South Africans - in short, to one-party, one-group dictatorship in this country".
[9] It was also argued that the bill would be a statement of intent demonstrating that the days of discrimination on the grounds of race or colour had come to an end.
[11] Rejecting Schwarz's proposal, Daan van der Merwe of the Conservative Party stated that the bill, based on a "leftist-liberal political philosophy", would jeopardise the freedom of the white man.
[12] New Republic Party leader Vause Raw said Schwarz "a master at platitudes" was seeking idealistic freedoms that did not exist anywhere in the world.
The DP played a vital role in the negotiation of an interim constitution which includes most of the original progressive principles and ideals.
[16] Soon after the elections, De Beer was succeeded by Tony Leon, who emphasized the protection of human rights, federalism and free enterprise.
At this point, the NNP had officially abandoned its earlier apartheid ideology and attempted to rebrand itself as a none-racial conservative force, thus making the party an acceptable coalition partner for the DP.
A political realignment had occurred in the sense that the white and Coloured electorate the NP/NNP had retained in 1994 had in large part shifted to the DA, though other parties such as the new Independent Democrats had also benefited from the NNP's collapse.
Helen Zille was elected executive mayor on 15 March 2006 and formed a coalition with six smaller parties as the DA failed to win an outright majority in the council.
DA convened a meeting on Constitutional Hill to present the party as one which no longer acts as an opposition but offers voters another choice for government.
[21][22] Party leader, Helen Zille said the new DA would be "more reflective of our rich racial, linguistic and cultural heritage".
Owing to its modest growth in the rest of South Africa, however, the newly formed Congress of the People (COPE) overtook the DA as official opposition in several provinces.
The party also improved its position in the rest of the country, made easier by the sharp decline of COPE following internal leadership disputes.
DA built on these gains in the 2014 general election, in which it retained the Western Cape with an increased majority and won 22,2% nationally with 89 seats, the best performance of any party other than the ANC in democratic South Africa.
[38] On 13 November 2009, the Democratic Alliance marked the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Progressive Party in Cape Town in the old chamber of parliament.
[39] While praising the liberal contribution to opposing and ending apartheid, they stated how South Africa and the DA still had much work to do.
He paid tribute to Helen Zille, calling her the embodiment of the principles he and others had fought for and warned that "Freedom is incomplete if it is exercised in poverty", a phase he often used.
Colin Eglin praised the liberal opposition to apartheid, stating that the principles that they had fought had been "entrenched in the Constitution".
Helen Zille also quoted the first Progressive Party leader, Jan Steytler, that in 1959 had stated that South Africa wanted to "face the future, not with fear, but with confidence that we can live together in harmony in a multi-racial country.
