Helen Zille

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Helen Zille

Helen Zille , actually Otta Helene Maree , née Otta Helene Zille (born March 9, 1951 in Johannesburg ) is a South African journalist and politician with German ancestors. She was Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009 and was Chair of the Democratic Alliance (DA) from 2007 to 2015 . From 2009 to 2019 she was Prime Minister of the Western Cape Province . She has been Chairperson of her party's Federal Council since October 2019 .

Zille is a great niece of the Berlin milieu painter Heinrich Zille .

Life

Youth and career

Helen Zille's Jewish parents came to South Africa as refugees from National Socialism . Helen's father Wolfgang Zille emigrated from Berlin to Johannesburg in South Africa in 1934. Her mother, Mila Cosman, from Essen , fled to Great Britain in 1939 and came to South Africa in 1948, where the parents met and married in 1950. Zille studied at the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. After earning a bachelor's degree , Zille began her political career as a political journalist for the Rand Daily Mail , where she gained prestige for discovering the truth and background of Steve Biko's death in 1977.

She has been a leader in various campaigns such as the Black Sash movement, the End Conscription Campaign and the South Africa Beyond Apartheid Project as well as the Cape Town Peace Committee . She also headed the Public Relations Department at the University of Cape Town . In 1997 she was Chair of the Board of Directors of Grove Primary School of South Africa . She became Minister of Education in the Western Cape Province and then Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA). Within the DA, she eventually became the party's deputy chairwoman and political spokesperson for educational issues.

In 2003 she made it to the finals of the South African Women of the Year Award . Zille speaks English , Afrikaans , Xhosa (three of the eleven official languages ​​of South Africa) and German . She was a member of the electoral commission of the Western Cape, vice-party chairwoman and spokeswoman for education on the board of the DA in the province as well as a member of parliament for her party. On July 11, 2007, she was named Newsmaker of the Year 2006 by the Pretoria National Press Club .

The mayor's office

In the local elections in 2006, the DA was the strongest force in Cape Town with 42%, even ahead of the nationally dominant African National Congress (ANC). On March 15, 2006, Zille was elected mayor with 106 to 103 votes, but by a coalition with smaller parties. The beginning of her tenure was marked by a controversy that arose when Zille's city government ousted Cape Town's city director Wallace Mgoqi after his tenure was extended by Zille's predecessor, Nomaindia Mfeketo (ANC), on terms that Zille believed to be illegal. She finally got right in court (the High Court ). The ANC then sought administrative reform in the Western Cape Province, which would have severely curtailed Zille's political powers. The dispute was eventually settled through a compromise.

Her duties as mayor also related to the 2010 World Cup , hosted by Cape Town. Zille oversaw the construction and financing of the Cape Town Stadium . As mayor, she particularly took on the drug problem in Cape Town. She called for the decentralization of the police and support for drug rehabilitation centers. Zille also demanded that the state government take action against drug abuse.

On October 14, 2008, Helen Zille was awarded the title of “World Mayor”. On April 30, 2009, she resigned from her mayor's office to become Prime Minister of the Western Cape.

Position in the Democratic Alliance

On March 15, 2007, Zille ran for the chairmanship of the DA to succeed the outgoing chairman Tony Leon in office. On May 6, 2007, she was elected to this office by a large majority. She led the party outside of Parliament, as she initially retained the post of mayor in Cape Town and is now the Prime Minister of the Western Cape. In the 2009 parliamentary elections , the DA won 16.6% (+ 4.2%) and 67 seats (+ 17) nationwide and thus again the rank of the official opposition party . In the election to the parliament of the Western Cape Province, the DA won an absolute majority for the first time with 22 of 42 seats. In the 2014 elections to the National Assembly , the DA won significantly and was also able to expand its supremacy in the Western Cape Province. In April 2015, she announced that she would no longer run for the office of chairman at the party conference on the second weekend in May 2015.

Because of controversial statements on colonialism, Helen Zille was expelled from all governing bodies of her party in June 2017. On October 20, 2019, she was elected to the office of Chairperson of the Federal Council (about: "Chairperson of the Federal Party Council") of her party in a fighting vote. As a result, several high-ranking DA members resigned from their party offices, including Mmusi Maimane , Athol Trollip and the Mayor of the City of Johannesburg , Herman Mashaba .

Campaign against drug and alcohol abuse

Zille and eight other people were arrested outside the Mitchell's Plain Police Station on September 9, 2007 . Zille herself was arrested when she went to the police station to investigate the detention of the group. The group had distributed leaflets against drug and alcohol abuse in Cape Town.

She had to appear in court on September 11, 2007 due to the violation of the applicable assembly law. She took the opportunity to speak out against the arrest of ten other people and herself, and to accuse the Police Minister of unjustified detention. On October 23, 2007, Zille and the inmates were acquitted of all charges.

Prime Minister of the Western Cape

Helen Zille in June 2009 at the World Economic Forum

After the victory of the Democratic Alliance in the elections to the provincial parliament of the Western Cape, she was elected Prime Minister on May 6, 2009, exactly two years after she had taken over the chairmanship of the Democratic Alliance, with the votes of her parliamentary group. She is the only one of the nine provincial heads of government who is not a member of the African National Congress .

In February 2012, Zille called the singer Simphiwe Dana a "professional black". In mid-March 2012, she published a message on Twitter in which she spoke of refugees from the Eastern Cape who were coming to the Western Cape because of the better educational opportunities. Both statements earned her massive criticism from other users of the communication service as well as from the ANC. Newspaper commentators saw this less racism as a lack of sensitivity and questioned the self-image of the population groups in South Africa. Senzeni Mphila, provincial official of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), called Zille “racist bitch” on Twitter because of her statement; he deleted the comment, but stuck to his view.

Beginning of April 2012 announced lawyers for the DA, Julius Malema , the ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu and the Cape Town City Council and ANCYL member Andile Lili in court in Cape Town because of insult to 1.4 million Rand to sue. They called Zille “racist girls” during the 2009 election campaign and accused her of bringing her lovers and concubines into the cabinet.

Alan Winde (DA) succeeded her in the office of Prime Minister on May 22, 2019 .

Contacts to Germany

On the occasion of a stay in Germany in January 2008, she signed the city's Golden Book in Dresden and took part in the celebrations for the 150th birthday of Heinrich Zille in Radeburg . In 2011 she received the Abraham Geiger Prize in Berlin , and in 2012 she was awarded the Reinhold Maier Medal in Stuttgart . In November 2014 she was awarded the Freedom Prize of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt . In the laudation, former Federal President Horst Köhler emphasized, among other things, her commitment to a policy that overcomes the boundaries between the population groups and good education in South Africa.

literature

Web links

Commons : Helen Zille  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl-Ludwig Gushi: The dream of Helen Zille . In: Berliner Zeitung of July 22, 2006, accessed on March 25, 2012.
  2. Alexander von Paleske: An arrest and an anniversary of death. . In: oraclesyndicate.twoday.net , accessed June 26, 2011.
  3. Press release: Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town, wins the 2008 World Mayor Prize . In: worldmayor.com of October 14, 2008, accessed on March 25, 2012 (English).
  4. Karl-Ludwig G possibly: Power woman from the chap . In: Spiegel online on April 26, 2009, accessed on March 25, 2012.
  5. Report at bbc.com (English), accessed on May 10, 2015
  6. Der Tagesspiegel: Zille leaves leadership of South Africa's opposition party DA (June 13, 2017)
  7. A leaderless DA: We are taking legal advice, says Helen Zille. timeslive.co.za, October 23, 2019, accessed October 24, 2019
  8. ^ Opposition chief Helen Zille in court . In: Der Standard from October 8, 2007, accessed March 25, 2012.
  9. Outrage at Zille's 'refugee' comment . In: Independent Online of March 22, 2012, accessed on March 25, 2012 (English).
  10. ANC keeps 'refugee' flak coming . In: Independent Online of March 23, 2012, accessed on March 25, 2012 (English).
  11. Khaya Dlanga: Helen Zille is not racist, but… . In: News24.com of March 23, 2012, accessed on March 25, 2012 (English).
  12. Khumbulani Maphosa: Open letter to Helen Zille from a Black professional . In: Times Live of February 27, 2012, accessed March 25, 2012.
  13. Nontando Mposo: ANCYL it stands by 'racist' slur Zille . In: Independent Online of March 27, 2012, accessed April 1, 2012.
  14. Zille to go to court over defamation at moneyweb.co.za (English), accessed on December 26, 2015.
  15. Potsdam Latest News : Geiger Prize 2011 goes to South Africa . Report from April 20, 2011 on www.pnn.de
  16. Jens Wiegmann: “I've never been so optimistic about South Africa” , Welt , December 15, 2012
  17. AFEP: Germany: South African politician Helen Zille honored with Freedom Award. ( Memento of November 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Zeit online / AFP , November 8, 2014