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Applications for the 2015 Class of the DA’s Young Leaders Programme will close on 1 October 2014.

The DA’s Young Leaders Programme is a political leadership development programme for South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35 who believe in the DA’s vision of the Open, Opportunity Society for All.

Participants of the programme are highly motivated individuals, interested in pursuing a career in politics, with a track record of leadership excellence.

Over the course of one year, participants of the programme are equipped with an in-depth political knowledge, critical thinking and communication skills and the opportunity to grow their leadership capacity, self-awareness and emotional maturity.

The programme has grown considerably since its inception in 2007 and has over 120 graduates, the majority of which is  actively involved within the party.

The programme came to full maturity when a number of its graduates became Members of Parliament earlier this year - Solly Malatsi, Andrew Whitfield, Zakhele Mbhele, George Michalakis, Yusuf Cassim, Terri Stander, Makashule Gana, Gordon Mackay and I - joined Geordin Hill-Lewis and Kevin Mileham in Parliament, fellow graduates now in their second term.

Other noteworthy graduates are Bongani Baloyi, the mayor of Midvaal; Garreth Bloor, City of Cape Town MAYCO member; Sizwe Mchunu, an MPL in the KwaZulu Natal Legislature and the DA’s Provincial Leader in Kwazulu-Natal; Mireille Wenger an MPL in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Community Safety.

Through the Young Leaders Programme, the DA has made it clear that it will work hard to attract brilliant young leaders from across the country to help us build a new majority in South Africa.

This is a challenge to all South Africans, between the ages of 18 and 35 who share the DA's vision of an open, opportunity society for all and who are passionate about making a difference in South Africa to apply at www.youngleaders.org.za.

Issued by the DA