As is the tradition among politicians, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille promised plenty when she was installed as Premier of the Western Cape on 6 May 2009.

So, nearly a year into her term in office, we thought it pertinent to take a look at both the positive changes she has implemented as well as the so-called "bad press" she has received.

Yip, she's been dubbed everything from "Satanist" to "selfish" to a "wonderful lady" (that last one's from everyone's favourite FIFA fellow, Mr Blatter himself). So, how has she steered the ship that is the Western Cape since taking control? Well, things were rocky pretty early on...

Soon after Zille donned the premier's cap, she announced an all-male provincial cabinet, much to the chagrin of gender activist groups, the ANC and even some DA supporters. Who can forget the featherbrained ANCYL's "boyfriends and concubines" jibe and spokesperson Floyd Shivambu's almost incidental insistence that "sleeping around is sleeping around"?

But Zille's majority-white, out-and-out male selection also caught the attention of (slightly) more serious organisations, such as Cosatu (the upper structures of which, by the way, are predominantly male). The trade union federation took its complaint about Zille's choices to the Equality Court.

Nothing much appeared to come of the incident, with Cosatu eventually withdrawing its charge and admitting that the court confirmed Zille's commitment towards women. Zille 1-0 Detractors.

The next media fire Zille had to extinguish was the so-called "toilets without walls" saga in the Makhaza section of Khayelitsha. No doubt with the best intentions, the City of Cape Town deviated from national guidelines ? which stipulate one enclosed toilet for every five plots when informal settlements are upgraded ? by offering residents the choice of one bathroom per erf on the condition that they build their own walls.

Needless to say, a number of residents soon declared that they could not afford to build walls around the bathrooms, leaving them to make use of the facilities in full view of the public. Zille was forced to revert to national guidelines, admitting that "sometimes we get it wrong".

The hotly-debated Lennit Max saga hit the papers next. Zille described the Western Cape Community Safety minister's alleged extramarital affair as a "private matter", drawing criticism from some quarters after her scathing attack on President Jacob Zuma for his philandering ways. Zille stood firm in the face of the fallout, insisting she would take harsh action should the allegations prove true.

Zille and Mayor Dan Plato then came under fire from a number of religious groups after the City of Cape Town began demolishing places of worship in Khayelitsha. The catch here is that these "churches" are often illegally constructed on council property and ? since they are structures of faith ? many consider it almost profane to knock them down. Zille, however, extended an olive branch by erecting tents for Easter church services.

The premier then ordered an independent probe into an email ? allegedly containing racist terms ? sent from the Stellenbosch acting municipal manager to a local government MEC. The ANC said the incident could represent the "ultimate unmasking of the DA as a home of old-style apartheid verkrampte faction". Ultimately though, independent forensic investigators declared the email a fake, with Zille suggesting it originated in the "ANC's dirty tricks department".

The most recent incident of Zille-bashing centres on the Western Cape government's decision to cancel the previous administration's provision of privileges to the province's senior citizens. The proposed cutting of the senior citizen social development budget would see free bus- and train-rides for pensioners every second Tuesday withdrawn.

So, what has Zille done to win the hearts and minds (and, perhaps more importantly, the votes) of South Africans since her time at the helm? What has she done to make Capetonians proud and citizens of other provinces jealous?

Click through to page two to find out...