24 Facts About Tony Leon

Tony Leon led the DA from its inception in 2000, until his retirement from leadership in 2007.

Tony Leon is the longest-serving leader of the official opposition in parliament since the advent of democracy in 1994.

Since 2012, Tony Leon has been serving as Executive Chairman of Resolve Communications Ltd - a South African-based advocacy for reputation management and strategic communications consultancy, and a consultant to various international companies.

Tony Leon is a contracted columnist to Arena Holdings Ltd, with his columns appearing weekly or monthly in Business Day, Sunday Times, and BusinessLive.

Tony Leon was born and raised in Durban during the apartheid era.

Tony Leon was educated at Clifton School and Kearsney College near Durban.

Tony Leon's father Ramon Leon was a High Court Judge.

Tony Leon is Jewish and had his Bar Mitzvah at the Great Synagogue in Durban, where he attended High Holiday services with his family.

Tony Leon has accredited Harry Schwarz and Helen Suzman as his biggest inspirations.

However, Harry Schwarz, his political mentor, uncovered that this was untrue, and Tony Leon was declared the winner.

Tony Leon became the leader of the opposition in the city council.

At the 1994 general elections, Tony Leon was again elected to Parliament in the first democratic National Assembly, as well as leader of the Democratic Party.

Tony Leon built a high media profile as an opposition leader by criticising the ANC government under Nelson Mandela but more so under his successor, President Thabo Mbeki.

On 26 November 2006, Tony Leon announced that he would step down from the leadership of the DA in 2007, and would not accept nomination for the leadership of the party at the party's congress in May 2007.

Tony Leon officially stepped down at that conference, and Helen Zille was elected to be the new party leader on 6 May 2007.

Tony Leon, nevertheless, kept his seat in Parliament until 2009, when its term expired.

Tony Leon was voted 16th in the TV channel SABC3's Top 100 Great South Africans.

From September to December 2007, Leon was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government.

Tony Leon published a series of articles in Business Day from the campaign trail of the 2009 South African general election.

Since 2012, Tony Leon has been a contracted columnist to Arena Holdings Ltd with his columns appearing weekly or monthly in Business Day, Sunday Times, and the Business Live, respectively.

Tony Leon followed many DA and Democratic Party members who became ambassadors, such as Harry Schwarz, Zach de Beer, Douglas Gibson and Sandra Botha.

Tony Leon published a memoir of his ambassadorial life titled The Accidental Ambassador: From Parliament to Patagonia.

Shortly after former President Nelson Mandela's death in December 2013, Tony Leon published another book, this time concerning Mandela's presidency and leadership from the perspective of the parliamentary opposition.

In 2000, Tony Leon married Michal from Israel, the mother of his two stepchildren, Noa and Etai Even-Zahav.