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Democratic Alliance leaders have been alleged by controversial news media IOL to be embroiled in a R1.2 billion tender fraud. Cabanac stated that he was the target of a successful smear campaign and that the comments in question were willfully taken out of context. Following Cabanac's appointment he was described by the EFF and City Press newspaper as being "racist and a Nazi-sympathiser" for past comments leading to additional accusations of the DA as a whole of "being white supremacist". In 2019, some commentators speculated that the resignation of the former party's leader, Mmusi Maimane, was a sign of "racial tensions in the party". The Democratic Alliance is often accused by its critics in the media, and rival political parties, of being a "white party" although polling indicates that more than half (56.6%) of their support base is non-white. White voters constitute the largest single demographic group within the party's support base at 43.4%, followed by Coloured voters at 19.6%, Black voters at 18%, and Indian voters at 8.9%.
The ANC issued a detailed critique of the campaign, focusing especially on Suzman's role in the apartheid parliament. These interventions include a wage subsidy programme to reduce the cost of hiring first-time workers. During his speech in his hometown of Durban, Steenhuisen highlighted the major success of the DA, under his leadership, of joining the ruling national government for the first time, after the party played a major role in the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The party also announced plans to employ 30,000 additional detectives and forensics experts and 500 more prosecutors, in order to reduce court backlogs, and establish a Directorate for Victims of Crime, which would provide funding and support for crime victims. In the DA's crime plan, "Conquering Fear, Commanding Hope", the DA committed itself to increasing the number of police officers to 250,000. This formed the basis of the philosophy underlying the party's 2009 Election Manifesto, which seeks to build a society by linking outcomes to "opportunity, effort and ability". Former party leader Helen Zille has argued that this stands in direct contrast to the ruling ANC's approach to governance, which she maintains has led to a "closed, crony society for some".
Social development
The DA continues to support the introduction of new performance targets for teachers and schools, and also advocates a per-child wage subsidy, and a national network of community-based early childhood education centres. The DA supports guaranteed access to a core minimum of resources for each school, proper state school nutrition schemes for grade 1–12 learners, and measures to train 30,000 additional teachers per year. The DA's education programme, "Preparing for Success", focuses on providing adequate physical and human resources to underperforming schools.
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Between 2019 and 2021 it was led by Rory Jubber with Nigel Bruce acting as chairperson. Previously the DA Abroad was led by Ludre Stevens between 2009 and 2015 and then by Francine Higham between 2015 and 2019 with Morné Van der Waltsleben as Global Operations Chair from 2013 to 2017. In the Gauteng Province, the first dually elected Democratic Alliance Youth Provincial Executive Committee took office in November 2017 after they were elected at the Gauteng Provincial Congress the same year. The current Interim Federal Leader, Nicholas Nyati, was elected at the Interim Democratic Alliance Youth Federal Congress in 2022.
- During his speech in his hometown of Durban, Steenhuisen highlighted the major success of the DA, under his leadership, of joining the ruling national government for the first time, after the party played a major role in the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
- The campaign received a certain amount of media attention, much of it somewhat sceptical.
- Partially on the basis of this campaign the DA contested the 2014 general election, where it once again grew its support base but failed in its stated goal of winning Gauteng province.
- Under the programme, 20,000 scholarships will be awarded to students at all public-sector universities in Sindh.
- In June 2026, the party's head of policy and Member of Parliament Mathew Cuthbert was appointed the party's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
- The party retained control of the Western Cape but with a reduced majority and failed to win Gauteng once again.
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Zille said the new DA would be, "more reflective of our rich racial, linguistic, and cultural heritage," and emphasized that she wanted it to be a "party for all the people" and not decline into a "shrinking, irrelevant minority." Having gone into opposition in the Western Cape in 2001 when the NNP formed a new coalition with the ANC, the demise of the NNP made the province a natural target for the party. The party also became kingmakers in the Western Cape province, where it formed a coalition government with the NNP. The modern day DA is in large part a product of the white parliamentary opposition to the ruling National Party. The party has also governed the Western Cape, one of the country's nine provinces, with a majority since the 2009 general election. The DA has a variety of ideologically liberal tendencies, including neoliberalism, social liberalism, classical liberalism, and conservative liberalism.
In May 2026, the party set out a 100-day crime plan that included lifestyle audits of police officers, rebuilding Crime Intelligence and giving local governments a greater role in crime prevention. Cuthbert filled the position nearly five years after the previous CEO Simon Dickinson resigned following a year in the role. The party's Gauteng provincial leader Solly Msimanga was elected Federal Chairperson, the party's second-highest position, having defeated incumbent Ivan Meyer. On 4 February 2026, DA Leader John Steenhuisen announced that he would be stepping down from his party leadership role, to focus exclusively on his portfolio as Minister of Agriculture. The ANC failed to gain a majority of seats in the National Assembly after the election, leading to the DA agreeing to form a coalition of national unity (Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa), entering ruling government for the first time.
In June 2026, the party's head of policy and Member of Parliament Mathew Cuthbert was appointed the party's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). At the DA's Federal Congress in April 2026, Hill-Lewis was elected DA leader, defeating the DA's caucus leader in Sedibeng District Municipality, Sibusiso Dyonase. The party retained control of the Western Cape but with a reduced majority and failed to win Gauteng once again. In paleo wine bar the general elections of 2019, the DA's national support declined for the first time in its history. The campaign received a certain amount of media attention, much of it somewhat sceptical. In her newsletter, she wrote that, "winning power in the Western Cape will allow us to show what cooperative governance between local authorities and a province can achieve." In the 2011 local government elections, the party won control of most of the municipalities in the Western Cape.
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In 2013, the DA launched the "Know Your DA" campaign, in an attempt to try to show that the DA (via its proxy predecessor organisations) was involved in the struggle against apartheid. Helen Suzman and Harry Schwarz, who were prominent anti-apartheid campaigners during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s The current leader of the party is Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who assumed leadership on 12 April 2026, after the party's Federal Congress. A member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network, the DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present. The party, considered to be South Africa's most diverse in terms of membership and voters, draws its support predominantly from Afrikaans and English speakers, people aged over 35, as well as white South Africans, Indian/Asian communities, and Coloured communities.