Tony Leon
Anthony " Tony" James Leon (born 15 December 1956) is a South African politician. He was chairman of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in South Africa.
Life
Leon was born into a Jewish family and attended the near Durban Kearsney College location. At 18, he became an organizer for the Progressive Party, one of the opposition parties during the apartheid period. Leon studied law at the Witwatersrand University. During his studies, he was chairman of the law students' group and vice - chairman of the student council. In 1986, Leon lecturer at the local law school. In the same year he was elected to the Johannesburg City Council, where he took over the leadership of the opposition.
Leon was elected for the constituency of Houghton for the Democratic Party ( DP), as his party after two previous mergers was now called the South African Parliament in 1989. In the years 1990-1994 he was faced with the Bill of Rights Commission, was a member of the " Convention for a Democratic South Africa" ( CODESA ) and delegate to the multi-party talks in Kempton Park.
1994 Leon moved after the first taking place on the apartheid period after elections again in parliament. After the New National Party, the former winner of the apartheid system had dramatically lost in the 1999 elections, votes, Leon was thus the de facto leader of the opposition in the ANC dominated by a two -thirds majority of Parliament. In the elections of 2004, meanwhile Democratic Alliance (DA) Calling Party celebrated with a score of 12.37% its biggest electoral success.
Leon made his mark during his time as leader of the opposition as a critic of the government, accusing failure in the fight against poverty, unemployment and the spread of AIDS.
In November 2006, Leon stated that he would no longer compete in the taking place in April 2007 elections for the party presidency. He was succeeded in this election to the Mayor of Cape Town Helen Zille. However, Leon retained his seat in Parliament until the elections of 2009. On August 3, 2009, he was appointed Ambassador of South Africa to Argentina.
Others
When organized by the Broadcasting Corporation SABC in September 2004 election of the "100 greatest South Africans of all time" Leon made it to 16th place