Ms Helen Zille is the Premier of the Western Cape Province from 6 May 2009 and she has been the Leader of the Democratic Alliance since 6 May 2007.

Ms Zille holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Witwatersrand.

Ms Zille was a Deputy Federal Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance in 2002 and she worked as a Journalist for the Rand Daily Mail from 1974 until 1982.

She was a senior Partner of Zille Shandler Associates a Public Policy Consultants, from 1989 until 1993. She became a member of the Executive Council (MEC) for the Department of Education in the Western Cape Provincial Government from 1999 to 2004; a member of Parliament from 2004 until 2006 and a Mayor of Cape Town from 6 May 2007 to 30 April 2009.

She also served as a member of the Progressive Party Youth in 1968; member of the Black Sash 'End Conscription' Campaign in the 1980s; a member of the Open Society Foundation and a member of the Independent Media Diversity Trust.

Ms Zille is the Author of the "Building an African Icon" published by MPTS Arch in 2003.