Mmusi Maimane, 34, was chosen as the first ever black leader of South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, on Sunday. He’s already being called the “Obama of Soweto” in comparison to the US first black president Barack Obama.

His election came just after the Democratic Alliance, which has many white supporters, got one of the largest amount of vote in a post-apartheid era election last year.

Maimane is now charges with the role of attracting black voters from the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress that has been in power for over two decades.

“We’ve opened up ourselves for South Africans to says any South African who believe they want to be a part of the DA (Democratic Alliance) can certainly be a part of that,” Maimane told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview.

“What I will be outlining is saying how do we break down the burden wall in south Africa of inequality where some are left out of the economy and others are thriving in the same economy,” he added.