Johannesburg - The sudden rise of the Democratic Party (DP) leader, Mr Tony Leon, to the status of national leader is endorsed in a poll which shows that whites rate him more highly than President Nelson Mandela, Patrick Laurence reports.
Mr Leon's rating stands in sharp contrast to his party's near eclipse in the 1994 election when it won a mere 1.7 per cent of the votes cast. Since then, however, Mr Leon has earned the respect of white voters through his "muscular liberalism" in general and his persistent and fearless opposition to the ANC juggernaut.