Helen Zille is a very important political figure of Cape Town, South Africa. She is the head of Democratic Alliance and the present Mayor of Cape Town.
Helen Zille is the present Mayor of Cape Town, South Africa. She was born on 9th March 1951. She completed her primary education from St Mary's High School and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Witwatersrand. She has played a significant role in the political field of Cape Town. Other than being the mayor of Cape Town she is also the head of the political party, Democratic Alliance, which she joined in 1990s as a Technical Advisor.
Early Life of Helen Zille:
Helen Zille entered into the political field of Cape Town as soon as she started working in the Rand Daily Mail (newspaper) as a political correspondent. She tried to expose the original reason behind Steven Biko's (activist) death. She played an active role in the anti-apartheid movement. Beside that she acted as the director of communications at the University of Cape Town. She also held the post of public policy consultant.
Helen Zille was a member of a number of NGOs before she became the Mayor. Some of the organizations were Black Sash, the Independent Media
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Diversity Trust, Open Society Foundation, etc. During the apartheid movement she worked as a peace activist as well. Zille protested against vigilantism in the city.
Political Career of Helen Zille:
After being elected as a member of the provincial parliament in 1999 Zille was appointed as the Minister of Education. She supervised the teaching process of numerous schools in the Western Cape Province. After ANC came to power in 2001, Helen headed the opposition in the Western Cape legislature for the next few years.
In 2004 Helen attended membership of the National Parliament. She was not only a Democratic Alliance MP. She was the National Spokesperson of her party as well. She also gained the membership of Portfolio Committee on Education.
Awards Won by Helen Zille:
Helen Zille received several awards for her accomplishments. She was chosen as the finalist for South African Woman of the Year Award in 2003. In 2006 she won the award of Newsmaker of the year. She has written and edited the book, Building an African Icon.
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