Education
Harvard Kennedy School.
Harvard Kennedy School.
Maynier matriculated from Grey High School in Portuguese Elizabeth, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of Cape Town and a Master"s Degree in Public Administration and Management from Harvard"s Kennedy School of Government. He is a former submarine officer and navy diver in the South African Navy. Maynier joined the Democratic Alliance as a researcher in 1999, and quickly rose to the position of Director of Research.
In 2008, he was appointed the District Attorney"s Deputy Chief Executive Officer with special responsibility for the Western Cape, the province where the District Attorney has its strongest support base in South Africa.
In 2009 he was the party"s Campaign Manager in the Western Cape for the 2009 general election. The result allowed Helen Zille to become Premier of the Western Cape, and saw the District Attorney take control of the provincial legislature in an alliance with the Independent Democrats.
Following the election he was appointed Shadow Minister of Defence. In his maiden speech to Parliament, Maynier issued a damning critique of the National Defence Force"s state of combat readiness—telling Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu:
On 2 August 2009, Maynier announced that a crisis in South Africa"s National Conventional Arms Control Committee had resulted in weapons deals being conducted between South African firms and rogue states like North of Korea, Iran and Libya.
This included the committee authorising the sale of radar detectors for use on North Korean submarines, and aviator G-suits to Iran.
On 27 March 2013 Maynier led the thrust for a parliamentary inquiry into the SANDF"s intervention in the Central African Republic coup.
In August 2000 he became Chief of Staff to party leader Tony Leon - a position he served until June 2004, when he became Assistant to the Chairperson of the Federal Executive. In February 2005 he was again promoted to Director of Fundraising, and he was awarded the party"s "Top Fundraiser of the Year" award at the 2007 Federal Congress, after modernising and professionalising the party"s fundraising system. The party won 51.3% of the vote in the province—up significantly from 27% in 2004.
After managing the District Attorney"s successful Western Cape electoral campaign, Maynier became a, after appearing eleventh on the party"s Western Cape national list.
