Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic opportunities appointed

David Maynier was appointed by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde to grow the economy and create jobs; maintain stable public finances and promote clean government in the Western Cape.

Maynier has served for the past ten years as a Member if the National Assembly in Parliament. During that time he has was a member or an alternate member of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Joint Standing Committee in Defence, Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Standing Committee on Appropriations and Standing Committee on Finance. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours) from the University of Cape Town and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. 

Previously Maynier served as the Shadow Minister of Finance, Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, and Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance.

Minister Maynier matriculated from Grey High School in Port Elizabeth and is a former submarine officer and navy diver in the South African Navy.

He joined the Democratic Alliance as a researcher in 1999 and quickly rose to the position of Director of Research. In August 2000 he became Chief of Staff to party leader Tony Leon – a position he served until June 2004, when he became Assistant to the Chairperson of the Federal Executive.

In February 2005 he was again promoted to Director of Fundraising, and he was awarded the party’s ‘Top Fundraiser of the Year’ award at the 2007 Federal Congress, after modernising and professionalising the party’s fundraising system. In 2008 he was appointed the DA’s Deputy CEO with special responsibility for the Western Cape, the province where the DA has its strongest support base in South Africa. In 2009 and 2019 he was the party’s Campaign Manager in the Western Cape for the general elections. The party won 51.3% of the vote in the province in 2009 and 55.6% in 2019 which is significantly higher than the 27% achieved in 2004.