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Johannesburg - Mmusi Maimane on Saturday announced that he will be standing for the position of DA leader.
The 34-year-old official opposition leader who hails from Dobsonville, Soweto, entered the public domain in 2011 when he became the DA's national spokesperson.
He held this position until 2014.
In 2011, he was elected to be the opposition party's Johannesburg mayoral candidate for the 2011 local government elections.
He then served as leader of the DA in the Johannesburg city council until May 2014.
Maimane has also held the position of deputy federal chairperson since 2012.
During the 2014 general elections, Maimane ran as the DA's candidate for Gauteng premier.
Shortly after the May elections, he was elected DA parliamentary leader.
Maimane and his wife Natalie, who he married in 2005, live in Johannesburg with their two children Daniel, 2, and KG, 4.
He has three degrees - a Bachelors in Psychology from the University of SA, a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Witswatersrand, and a Masters in Theology from the University of Wales.
Maimane has been tipped to be frontrunner to take over the leadership reigns of the DA from Helen Zille.
Zille announced last week that she would not be standing for re-election.
If Maimane wins the leadership race the country may see a paradigm shift from the perception that the DA is largely supported by a white middle-class electorate.
The DA is holding its federal congress next month in Port Elizabeth.
Nominations for leadership positions close on April 24.
