# Joe Seremane
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{{Short description|South African politician (born 1938)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Wetshotsile Joseph Seremane
| image = Joe Seremane.jpg
| image_size = 219px
| caption =
| office = Federal Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance
| term_start = March 2000 (as chairperson of the [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(South_Africa)))
| term_end = 2010
| predecessor = Douglas Gibson
| successor = Wilmot James
| office2 = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament)
| constituency2 = [North West](/source/North_West_(South_African_province))
| term_start2 = 1998
| term_end2 = 2009
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1938|8|26}}
| birth_place = [Randfontein](/source/Randfontein%2C_Gauteng), [Transvaal](/source/Transvaal_Province) (now [Gauteng](/source/Gauteng)), [South Africa](/source/South_Africa)
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = [Democratic Alliance](/source/Democratic_Alliance_(South_Africa))
(2000-present)
| other_party = {{plainlist|
*[Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(South_Africa)) (1994-2000)
*[Pan Africanist Congress of Azania](/source/Pan_Africanist_Congress_of_Azania)
(until 1994)}}
| relatives =
| spouse = 1 (late)
| children = 4
| occupation =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Wetshotsile Joseph Seremane''' (born 26 August 1938) is a former [South Africa](/source/South_Africa)n politician and federal chairperson of the country's main opposition party, the [Democratic Alliance](/source/Democratic_Alliance_(South_Africa)) (DA).
Seremane started his career as a school teacher in [Bekkersdal](/source/Bekkersdal) in the [Gauteng](/source/Gauteng) province of [South Africa](/source/South_Africa), until he was barred from teaching due to his involvement in politics. He was a political prisoner on [Robben Island](/source/Robben_Island) from 1963 to 1969, before being deported by the apartheid government to the then black [homeland](/source/bantustan) of [Bophuthatswana](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Democratic_Party_(South_Africa)) (DP), 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.
Initially a member of the [Pan Africanist Congress of Azania](/source/Pan_Africanist_Congress) (PAC), a radical black consciousness movement, Seremane now rejects the politics of race and was long seen as the most prominent black figure in the multi-racial DA.
After the announcement of the former DA leader [Tony Leon](/source/Tony_Leon) that he intended to retire in May 2007, Seremane was regarded as a possible candidate to succeed Leon.
On 26 February 2007 he announced that he would stand for election as leader for the DA. He together with [Athol Trollip](/source/Athol_Trollip) were, however, defeated by [Helen Zille](/source/Helen_Zille) on 6 May 2007.
Seremane was the DA's candidate for president in the parliamentary 25 September 2008 vote to elect a successor to [Thabo Mbeki](/source/Thabo_Mbeki).[{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.da.org.za/?p=484 |access-date=2025-10-25 |website=Democratic Alliance |language=en}}]
He retired in 2010, and was replaced as DA federal chairperson by [Wilmot James](/source/Wilmot_James).[{{cite web|url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/james-to-replace-seremane-as-da-chairman-1.488964#.UqUsxU2A3cs|title=James to replace Seremane as DA chairman|author=Independent Newspapers Online|work=Independent Online}}]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=184&MemberID=14 Parliament portfolio for Joe Seremane at parliament.gov.za]
* [http://www.da.org.za/?page_id=55 Joe Seremane profile at DA website]
* [http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252359&area=/insight/insight__national/ Mail & Guardian - ''Last black man standing'']
* [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20071027123624428C184466 Chaaban wanted DA's Seremane, tape reveals] IOL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seremane, Joe}}
Category:1938 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Randfontein
Category:South African Tswana people
Category:Pan Africanist Congress of Azania politicians
Category:Democratic Party (South Africa) politicians
Category:Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2004–2009
Category:South African prisoners and detainees
Category:Inmates of Robben Island
Category:20th-century South African politicians
Category:21st-century South African politicians
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Joe Seremane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Seremane) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Seremane?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.