Hannah Moosa, Secretary general,Model United Nations
Hannah Moosa is one of the youngest South Africans involved in politics on a global scale. She is serving as secretary general in the Model United Nations (MUN) — an academic simulation of the UN — while she completes a PhD in international relations and comparative developing politics at the University of Toronto.
Moosa began debating in the Model UN when she was in Grade 11, after her team won the KwaZulu-Natal provincial competition in July 2001 and was placed third in the national round. Moosa went on to represent KwaZulu-Natal as a member of the South African delegation at the Model UN Conference held at the UN in New York in 2002.
She has also served as a delegate at numerous university level conferences in South Africa, Canada and the United States as well as serving as tutor, trainer, staff member and organiser for various high-school and university-level MUN simulations. — Eamon Allan
Lunch spot: A braai in the Drakensberg
Ian Ollis, MP: Democratic Alliance
The day Ian Ollis was sworn in as one of the newest members of Parliament, his mother gave him some advice.
‘Make sure you don’t get thrown out in the first week,” she said.
Her snide suggestion wasn’t unwarranted. Back in February of 2000, just before turning in his master’s thesis on the Bible’s view of homosexuality, the then-ordained minister was tossed out of the Baptist Church; it had no interest in having an openly gay man among them.
But the DA didn’t seem to mind his sexual orientation. In 2005, they approached Ollis, who was running his own real estate agency and doing of skills training, to run for office because of his experience in front of big crowds.
Ollis took on Joburg’s Ward 90 (which includes Hyde Park, Dunkeld and Rosebank) representing one of the country’s wealthiest areas right up until his time in Parliament began in May.
It’s a place that, six months ago, Ollis wasn’t so sure he’d be. Last year he lost the DA leadership of Gauteng by four votes to Victor Penning. But he quickly bounced back.
After Deloitte was brought in by the party to conduct evaluations of its top politicos, Ollis scored at the top of the class. All the earnest experience of talking to people paid off in mock interviews and various presentations and the party decided to take him to Parliament, where he is the new deputy spokesperson on labour.
But don’t expect Ollis to deliver like every other politician.
‘I don’t shut up and I don’t tow the line,” he says. ‘I say what I believe.”
Let’s just hope that’s not what gets him tossed out this time. — Tanya Pampalone
Lunch spot: Doppio Zero, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Lebogang Maile, Chairperson, Gauteng Youth Commission
Lebogang Maile’s popularity as a leader grew during his time as president of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas). From 1995 he led the organisation’s team presenting proposals to Parliament’s portfolio committee on education during the formulation of the South African Schools Act.
Maile’s term as Cosas president was, however, marred by continued stand-offs with government, most notably around education officials. But he continued to grow, becoming the first chairperson of the Gauteng Youth Commission, a government body responsible for the formulation of the youth development policy framework.
One of the programmes initiated by the commission under his stewardship is the Izimbizo programme, aimed at promoting dialogue and ensuring that government is in constant contact with young people. The 29-year-old is now the Gauteng provincial secretary of the ANC Youth League as well as head of social transformation for the league’s provincial executive committee, working closely with NGO’s focusing on youth development. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: The Meat Co, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg
Buti Manamela, National secretary,Young Communist League of South Africa
The first national secretary of the South African Communist Party’s youth wing Buti Manamela is known for being outspoken and fearless in politics.
A determined political activist, Manamela started recruiting members for the ANC Youth League and the Congress of South African Students when he was only 12.
He studied towards an electronic engineering diploma at Mamelodi College, but abandoned his studies when he was elected after the re-establishment of the Young Communist League of South Africa in 2003.
He has since become the face of the organisation and was part of the young leaders and its tripartite alliance partner, the ANC Youth League, who played a major role to ensure that Jacob Zuma won the ANC presidency in 2007.
Manamela is now an ANC MP. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Marco’s African Place, Cape Town
David Masondo, Chairperson,Young Communist League
David Masondo is the most powerful youth politician that you probably have not heard of. That’s because the chairperson of the Young Communist League of South Africa is more academic than politician. Known for his soft-spoken, down-to-earth and approachable nature, this extremely low-profile politicio, has lectured in political studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, and is now working towards his PhD at New York University.
Masondo first became politically active as a child in Limpopo when he mobilised, with members from his village, against corrupt chiefs who embezzled money intended for community projects. Masondo has been a member of the National Youth Commission and served as chairperson of the ANC Youth League in Limpopo. — Monako Dibetle
Lunch spot: Mzitho, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Lindiwe Mazibuko, MP: Democratic Alliance
The first time Lindiwe Mazibuko gave serious thought to politics was when she was writing a dissertation for her political communication honours degree at the University of Cape Town.
DA leader Helen Zille’s tenure as mayor of Cape Town as well as the party’s policies and programmes were part of Mazibuko’s research in 2007. Straight after university, she started working for the party. Two years later, the 28-year-old is now one of the newest members of Parliament and doubles as the party’s national media liaison officer. Although she is new to the political game, she has been tasked with defending the party’s policies. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Willoughby & Co., W&A Waterfront
Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, Suspended national youth leader: Freedom Front Plus
Early May this year, Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg was suspended from his post as the national youth leader for the Freedom Front Plus. His offence? He told everyone who would listen that he would push for a vote of no confidence against the group’s leader after Pieter Mulder took the position of deputy minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the ANC-led government.
Jansen van Rensburg believes that you should stick to your principles; especially when it least suits you. And this was his time to do just that. Prior to his suspension, he was actively involved in seeking creative ways to shine a light on the issues important to the political party’s youth. ‘Mix a party with a party,” he says.
Jansen van Rensburg is in his final year of study as a MCom financial management student. He is a part-time councillor with the City of Tshwane’s metropolitan municipality and a broker at a leading financial services company. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Cappuccino’s, Brooklyn, Pretoria
Fikile Mbalula, Deputy minister of police
Until 2004, Fikile Mbalula was a non-factor in the country’s political discourse. The former youth league firebrand was thrust into the limelight after he was elected ANC Youth League president. His key task — albeit not as easy as he might have thought — was to make sure Jacob Zuma would become the next president of the ANC and the country.
It was Mbalula’s hard work as head of ANC’s election campaign that won him a position in Zuma’s Cabinet as deputy minister of police. Known affectionately as ‘Vutha” in ANC circles, Mbalula is a larger-than-life character is one of the most influential politicians in the country. And the youth league has big plans for their former leader; they expect him to take over as ANC president someday and ultimately become the country’s president. —Matuma Letsoalo
Lunch spot: Pigalle, Sandton, Johannesburg
Alex Matthews, Political commentator
Alex Matthews started blogging in 2007. And for the next two years, his blog Afrodissident — political commentary on ‘Africa and beyond” — was a runner-up in South Africa’s annual blog awards for both the best politics blog and the best original writing.
Matthews writes about everything from human rights and governance to poverty and corruption, attempting to cover issues ignored by the mainstream media.
That’s exactly what’s landed him and his political opinions on some of the most heavy-hitting political pages in the world, including The Huffington Post and the Foreign Policy Journal.
In April, Matthews launched The Soapbox (thesoapbox.fm), an online platform that he hopes will become a place to fight political and cultural apathy and foster tolerance and a culture of intelligent debate among his peers.
Since January 2007, Matthews has been head of public relations for Panda Security South Africa and he’s finishing his BA in communications management at Vega, the brand communications school. — Jane Steinacker
Lunch spot: Loading Bay, Greenpoint, Cape Town
Ebrahim Fakir, Political commentator
Ebrahim Fakir heads a research programme that focuses on political parties, local government, Parliament and institutions that protect democracy at the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa.
He has researched politics for the Institute for Democracy in South Africa and the Centre for Policy Studies. He’s read for a degree in English Literature (BA Hons) at the University of the Witwatersrand and during his time there he served on the South African National Students Congress, the Muslim Students Association and the Wits Student newspaper.
Fakir was also a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: The Ant, Melville, Johannesburg