SA opposition 'is not too white'

The party has long been criticised for being too white and middle class

The newly elected leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance in South Africa, Helen Zille, has denied her party is too white and middle class.

Ms Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, told the BBC at least half of the delegates voting in the leadership election on Sunday were not white people.

She said the accusation that the DA was a white party was propaganda used by the ruling African National Congress.

The biggest challenge facing the party is to attract more black support.

She will succeed Tony Leon who is stepping down after 13 years.

"We are not a white party," she told the BBC's Network Africa.

"There are many opposition parties in South Africa who have black leaders and who have almost 100% black MPs and they've been going backwards election after election. We have more black voters than they do."

Ms Zille was both a journalist and an activist during the struggle against apartheid. In more recent years, as a Democratic Alliance MP, she worked in Khayelitsha, one of the most impoverished areas of Cape Town.

Since becoming mayor of the city last year, Helen Zille has had fierce political tussles with South Africa's governing party - the African National Congress.

She is determined to remain as Cape Town's mayor.

The DA has grown in size since the 1990s, but although it is the largest opposition party, it still only holds 12% of the seats in the National Assembly.

The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says one of Ms Zille's priorities will be to draw in more black voters and break the concentration of power that lies with the ANC.