Rory Jubber

DA Abroad Leader

London, United Kingdom

Originally from Durban, Rory Jubber is currently in the final stages of his doctorate in philosophy at University College London. He has taught a wide range of courses in philosophy and the history of ideas to undergraduates at University College London, King’s College London and Birkbeck College London for the past four years. Outside of academic and political activities Rory enjoys reading social history, lifting heavy objects, rugby and fishing.

After attending a politically turbulent philosophy conference at Rhodes University in 2017 Rory decided that the time had come to move from being a passive observer of South African politics towards being an active participant in it. The illiberalism he observed at the conference, so anathema to proper academia, left him seeking a liberal option in South African politics. The DA proved to be the correct political home; and living in the UK he was surprised and delighted to discover that the DA had an ancillary organisation, the DA Abroad, designed to allow South Africans living overseas to contribute to their country through activism. His view is that only a liberal outlook (with a good twist of pragmatism) can move a divided nation away from its painful and unjust past.

Nigel Bruce

DA Abroad Chairperson

London, United Kingdom

Nigel Bruce is a former Democratic Alliance MP and editor of The Financial Mail. He has also edited the Business Day, Finance Week and Finansies & Techniek and was the Executive Director of Times Media Ltd.

Garreth Bloor

DA Abroad Finance Chair

Toronto, Canada

Garreth Bloor married his Canadian sweetheart he met back as an undergrad student while she was on a gap year in Cape Town. They currently reside in Toronto after several years in the Mother City.

Bloor has served as a DA Mayoral Committee Member for the City of Cape Town, first elected at age 23, following activism in student politics at the University of Cape Town, where the first DA student branch was established. He has served on the DA-led student council as vice president and later on the board of the institution.

Garreth was elected a Member of Parliament for the DA in 2014, but opted to serve in a second position on the Mayoral Committee, remaining in the city’s executive cabinet until the end of his five-year term on the city council.

His work in North America is focused on risk analysis advisory for investors into South Africa, including venture capital investment via a Cape Town-based fund management company he co-founded in late 2016. He serves as Vice President for Transatlantic Affairs at the Johannesburg-based Institute of Race Relations and is passionate about the right policies that will guarantee broad-based prosperity for all in the land of his birth.

Ludre Stevens

DA Abroad Operations Chairperson and UK Committee Member

London, United Kingdom

I am honoured to have been the first UK Chairperson and former Leader of the DA Abroad. I was also the campaign manager for the DA Abroad campaign against the Nuclear power procurement deal and previously worked on the No To Secrecy and Vote Home campaigns.

I am a founding Trustee of the Ubunye-Unity Trust, a UK based charity in support of South African community development projects; on the United National Westminster Committee and run a Tech start-up called YuDoGlobal. I believe that the DA Abroad is vitally important as international pressure is the key to helping South Africa succeed.

Justin Adams

European Regional Forum Chair & UK Chairperson

London, United Kingdom

I was born and raised in KwaZulu Natal, and moved to the UK in 2008. I am currently involved in UK Property investment. I have been involved with the DA Abroad since 2014, initially as a volunteer and as Membership Secretary since 2015.

I have a deep passion to see South Africa succeed and feel we should all play our part in overcoming the challenges our beautiful land faces, and we as the diaspora have the honour of flying the flag internationally.

Simba Makina

Africa Regional Forum Chair and Kenya Country Representative

Nairobi, Kenya

Simba Makina is from Pretoria, where he matriculated from Pretoria Boys High School. He studied at Wits University for an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science and graduated with a Masters degree in Healthcare Management at Stellenbosch University.

Simba has lived in Pretoria since childhood, however, he relocated to Nairobi in Kenya in 2016, where he is regional representative for a multinational medical devices company. Simba is particularly passionate about healthcare reform in South Africa and its foreign relations with the rest of the world.

Simba looks forward to contributing and hearing from fellow DA Abroad members on ideas on how to improve our healthcare system, as well as build better foreign relations around the world.

Prenisha Naicker

Asia Regional Forum Chair & China Country Representative

Shanghai, China

Prenisha is from KwaZuluNatal and currently resides in Shanghai. Prenisha qualified as an attorney and practiced in South Africa for a while. She did the Cambridge CELTA last year and moved to Shanghai from January 2016 to teach English. Prenisha is interested in Labour Law and issues surrounding women and children’s rights. In Shanghai, Prenisha volunteers at Heart to Heart Shanghai which is an organization that raises funds in order to perform heart surgeries for children in need in China.