Mike Ellis

Michael James Ellis (born 29 September 1946) is a retired South African politician and educator, who served as Deputy Chief Whip of the opposition Democratic Alliance in 1999-2011, and as the party's provincial leader in KwaZulu-Natal between 2006 and 2009. Ellis is one of the party's longest serving Parliamentarians, having first entered parliament as a candidate of the pro-Democracy Progressive Federal Party in 1987. In 1976 he took up a post as deputy headmaster at Penzance Primary School, and after spending two years as deputy headmaster at Kingsway High School, returned to Penzance to become the school's headmaster.

Family Mike's eldest son, John Ellis, is a well-known South African singer-songwriter and guitarist. His debut solo album, Come Out Fighting, released in June 2010, has a strong political message. It was dubbed 'Protest Songs' by the local press. Songs such as 'A Luta Continua', 'Government Song', 'Rebels' and 'Rant' speak about being a white South African post-Apartheid.