Being There reads like a backstage pass to the past 30 years or so of SA politics.
Few politicians have had the kind of influence and staying power Tony Leon, 68, has.
He’s been there, done that and got the T-shirt more than once. He also notched up a few firsts; most notably helping bury the National Party and turning a small party into the official opposition.
None of them small feats. While Leon has not held public office in years, when politicians need to call a friend, they call him.
Leon back in politics
Last year, he found himself back in the thick of things.
The DA asked him to help with the negotiations that led to the formation of the government of national unity.
It was a high-stakes moment in South Africa’s political history – one that required experience, institutional memory and calmness under pressure.
“You’re making big decisions with imperfect information and not enough time,” Leon said.
“There was propaganda coming from all sides and we weren’t even sure a deal was possible. But the alternative to a bad deal would have been disastrous.”
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To be back in the game was never the plan
Although he never planned on returning to the fray, he understood the gravity of the situation, he said.
“This wasn’t a choice between good and bad. It was between a mediocre deal and a catastrophic alternative.
“If things had gone the other way, the economy would have taken an irreparable hit.”
Leon kept a detailed diary throughout the process, something he had not done before.
“Not just fragments or scraps. I wrote everything down this time,” he said.
New Book
It’s all captured in Being There, his new book which reads like a backstage pass to the past 30 years or so of South African politics.
Leon’s role in shaping the DA and, by extension, the country’s political environment, stretches back to a different era.
When he was 18 years old, he was already actively involved as an organiser for the Progressive Party just before he studied law at Wits University.
Leon’s political career started pre-1994, when he was elected to represent Bellevue in Joburg as a councillor.
The Progressives at that time became the Progressive Federal Party – PFP.
It was, as he described it, a time when being persistent about service delivery and getting things done could yield results.
“I was attentive and I was probably a bit of a pain to the municipal officials. But if you wrote to them, they responded. Problems got sorted out,” he said.
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First parliamentary seat
He went on to win his first parliamentary seat in 1989, for Houghton by a margin of just 39 votes.
“Had I lost, I would probably have stayed in law. I might have been richer, but I would not have had the same depth of experience.”
Eventually the PFP became the Democratic Party (DP) when the Independent Party and the National Democratic Movement joined hands under then leader Zach de Beer
Before Leon assumed the leadership role at the DP, he was actively involved in shaping South Africa’s democracy at the multiparty Convention for a Democratic South Africa negotiations before the 1994 elections.
Leon led the Democratic Party
As Nelson Mandela became president, Leon led the Democratic Party into a new era, most notably at first through the Fight Back campaign of 1999, a slogan that became shorthand for his brand of combative, unapologetic opposition politics.
Under his watch, the DP rocketed from a marginal voice in parliament to the official opposition.
Then, 14 months or so later. the DP consumed the remnants of the National Party and became the DA.
“It was hard, hard graft,” he said. “We worked very hard and often for very mediocre or suboptimal rewards. But you do what you’ve got to do.”
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Leaving politics
After leading the DA for seven years, he stepped down in 2007, leaving active politics at 50.
“I had done everything I could do. I wasn’t going to hang around until I got pushed. Knowing when to leave is a very underrated political skill.”
He said politicians often have large egos, but there are checks and balances.
“Every politician’s a narcissist. Some more than others. I’m not immune, but if you’re in it just for the press coverage or a job title, your career won’t last.”
For Leon, looking back, the formation of the DA was one of the most consequential moves of his career.
“We took a splintered opposition and turned it into something that could actually hold the government to account,” he said.
“It wasn’t perfect but without it, we’d have a very different country, that would be all the poorer for it, today.”
What happened after politics?
After politics, he became South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina, cofounded the communications firm Resolve, and started writing columns for news organisations and books.
He also picked up a regular side gig lecturing on cruise ships. “You don’t make money from it, but you get to see incredible places. I’ve been from the Antarctic to New Zealand,” he said.
He reads voraciously, walks his dogs daily and tries to stay active.
“My wife gave me a cushion once with a picture of our dachshund and the words, ‘Be the person your dog thinks you are’. It’s the most honest standard to live by.” Golf is off the table these days. “I was hopeless,” he said.
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