Mmusi Maimane

His parents met in 1977 and were married by 1980 in Dobsonville, Soweto.

Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and leader of Build One South Africa, a political party.

Maimane was born on 6 June 1980 in the Leratong Hospital in Krugersdorp.

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, and is of Tswana ancestry in the Bafokeng clan.

Maimane grew up in Soweto, and attended Raucall and then Allen Glen High School, where he matriculated in 1997.

Maimane graduated from the University of South Africa with a BA in Psychology, the University of the Witwatersrand with a Masters in Public Administration, and Bangor University in Wales with a Masters in Theology.

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.

In 2011, he was elected to be the DA's Johannesburg mayoral candidate in the 2011 municipal elections.

In that election, Maimane helped to grow the party's voter base, but was not elected mayor.

In March 2011, his mayoral candidacy was announced at the DA Election Manifesto Launch at Walter Sisulu Square in Soweto.

He defeated contender Vasco da Gama to be elected as the DA mayoral candidate for Johannesburg before a panel of 30 people, including party leader and Premier of the Western Cape 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 the Council, Maimane served on the Finance Committee, and on the Governance Committee that he had personally pushed to have constituted.

He was selected as DA national spokesperson later in 2011.

At the 2012 DA Federal Congress, Maimane was elected as the party's deputy federal chairperson, ahead of eight other candidates.

On 31 July 2013, Maimane announced his intention to run for the DA nomination as a candidate for Premier of Gauteng in the 2014 elections at Baliskis in Alexandra.

Two opponents joined the internal race: DA Gauteng Health spokesperson Jack Bloom and unknown outsider Vaughan Reineke.

He emerged as the duly elected DA Gauteng Premier candidate on 9 August 2013.

On 12 September, Maimane made the first public address of his candidacy on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Thereafter he served as Leader of the Official Opposition on the Johannesburg City Council until May 2014.

In addition to his political career, he is also a pastor and elder at Liberty Church.

In a March 2014 Ipsos poll, Gauteng respondents were asked to rate Maimane 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".

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 South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) after it was aired on April 8 and 9, on the basis that the advert incited violence.

The DA laid a complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (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.

While the DA grew its share of the vote in Gauteng in the 2014 election, the ANC retained control of the province with Maimane losing to David Makhura.

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 new parliamentary leadership.

Maimane was the only candidate for the post of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and was elected unopposed, becoming the first black man to hold the position in South Africa's history.

On 5 June 2014, Maimane announced his Shadow Cabinet.

Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political party from 10 May 2015 to 23 October 2019, and the former Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from 29 May 2014 to 24 October 2019.

He is the former leader of the DA in the Johannesburg City Council and the DA National Spokesperson.

He formed the One South Africa Movement in 2020.

Mmusi Maimane launched this new political party, Build One South Africa on 24 September 2022.