Raenette Taljaard

Raenette Taljaard (born 4 July 1972), also known as Raenette Gottardo, is a South African academic and former politician. She represented the Democratic Party (DP) and Democratic Alliance (DA) in the National Assembly from June 1999 until her resignation at the end of 2004. She later served stints as director of the Helen Suzman Foundation and as a member of the Electoral Commission of South Africa.

Under party leader Tony Leon, Taljaard was Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises and later Shadow Minister for Finance. She was best known for her tenure in the Standing Committee of Public Accounts from 2001 to 2002, where she was a leading critic of the Arms Deal. Though Taljaard was widely viewed as among the DA's most promising politicians, Leon had to intervene to secure her place on the party list in the 2004 general election. Her relationship with Leon and other senior DA leaders deteriorated thereafter, and in November 2004 she announced her resignation from the party, from Parliament, and from frontline politics.

In subsequent years, Taljaard lectured in politics at the University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand. She was director of the Helen Suzman Foundation from 2006 to 2009 and served half a term at the Electoral Commission from 2011 until 2015, when she resigned to concentrate on her academic career. Provided by Wikipedia