Joe Seremane

Who is Joe Seremane?

Wetshotsile Joseph "Joe" Seremane is a former South African politician and federal chairperson of the country's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance.

Seremane started his career as a school teacher in Bekkersdal in the North West province of South Africa, until he was barred from teaching due to his involvement in politics. He was a political prisoner on Robben Island from 1963 to 1969, before being deported by the apartheid government to the then black homeland of Bophuthatswana. He was further detained without trial from 1976 to 1978, and several times between 1982 and 1984.

He has served civic organisations in advocacy and later, mediation and conflict resolution. He was the Director of Justice and Reconciliation for the South African Council of Churches, and Chief Land Claims Commissioner after the 1994 advent of democracy in the country.

In 1994 he joined the Democratic Party, the predecessor to the DA and was elected Member of Parliament in 1998. In March 2000 he was elected federal chairperson of the DP, and subsequently became the founding chairperson of the DA.