SOUTH AFRICA:Waving regally to well-wishers, Helen Zille looked for all the world yesterday like she had just been elected president of South Africa rather than leader of a party that commands a mere 12 per cent of the vote.
But then again, the post Zille assumes is about more than just numbers. As head of the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa's second largest party, she will be the public face of the opposition, fronting attempts to hold the secretive and oft-derided ruling African National Congress (ANC) to account.
A tough-talking former journalist and anti-apartheid campaigner, she was elected by an overwhelming majority of DA members at their annual congress at Midrand, outside Johannesburg, at the weekend.
Ending months of speculation about her future, she said she would combine the job with her existing role as mayor of Cape Town - to show how her party could succeed in both opposition and local government.
On a continent where ruling parties are notoriously intolerant of dissent, Zille's triumph and the continuing rise of the DA have been hailed as proof of the strength of South Africa's democracy.
Speaking yesterday, on her first full day of office, Zille herself said that respect for the opposition had increased in South Africa in recent years. She recalled that when the DA was first established some of its members were attacked and even killed for daring to speak out against "Saint Mandela" and his fellow icons. The worst she has had to put up with lately was having a few chairs thrown at her by ANC supporters at a public meeting last year - an incident for which president Thabo Mbeki subsequently apologised.
Prof Anthony Butler of the University of Cape Town said the DA had contributed to democracy in South Africa "in a way that is not sufficiently recognised".
As well as being an opposition party in its own right, "the DA performs a job for part of the ANC. A proportion of the ANC will not speak out on certain issues for fear of upsetting the party leadership. If the DA were not there, those issues may not be raised."
Nicknamed "Godzille" for her battling and sometimes abrasive style, the Cape Town mayor has won plaudits for trying to improve public services in poor, black townships.
Whether she can make the DA a serious challenger for the 2009 general elections, however, remains to be seen. The ANC won 70 per cent of the vote in 2004, and has since built on that margin in local elections.
"The perception was created that the DA was only concerned with more affluent minorities," said Steven Friedman of the Johannesburg-based Centre for Policy Studies. "Her first task is to disabuse that perception."
Zille's party is affiliated to an international group of liberals that includes the Progressive Democrats in Ireland and the Liberal Democrats in Britain.
Although steeped in anti-apartheid liberalism, the DA has alienated some blacks by embracing a staunchly pro-business stance.
The ANC's youth league went so far yesterday as describing it as "the party of fascists and right-wing conservatives".
Such antagonism towards the DA, however, is far from universal in the majority population. Dan Mahlatlole said he was persuaded to join 10 years ago because the ANC wouldn't listen to his complaints about unemployment in Johannesburg. He is now one of 15 black DA councillors in the city. "The parties of the blacks are dying. There is no discrimination in this party."