Helen Zille

About

Leader of the Democratic Alliance Party of South Africa, Premier of South Africa's Western Cape Province, and one-time Mayor of Cape Town, South Africa. Also a journalist and activist, she wrote numerous anti-apartheid pieces during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Before Fame

After graduating from the University of the Witwatersrand, she worked as a political writer for the Rand Daily Mail.

Trivia

During the 1980s, she was heavily involved in a women's anti-apartheid movement called Black Sash.

Family Life

She and her husband, Johann Maree, welcomed two sons between 1984 and 1989.

Associated With

She publicly criticized the sexist statements of South African President Jacob Zuma.