In this section: Andile Lungisa, Mazibuko Jara, Lorato Tshenkeng, Lebohang Pheko, Malusi Booi and more…
Andile Lungisa, deputy president: ANC Youth League
Having entered politics at 14 through the South African Students Congress, Andile Lungisa credits the discipline and experience he learned there for the position he now occupies as deputy president of the ANC Youth League.
One of the country’s most stylish politicians, the 30-year-old demonstrated his organisational skills when he founded an ANC Youth League branch in City Central, in the western suburbs of Port Elizabeth. Lungisa describes himself as a free thinker and being a playwright and a poet allows him space to express himself outside the political platform.
Lungisa takes to heart matters that affect the lives of young people such as HIV/Aids and makes his contribution by organising Aids benefit concerts to raise awareness about the disease. He was recently appointed chairperson of the board of the new National Youth Development Agency, which seeks to advance youth development in the country. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Makhosini, Green Point, Cape Town
Mazibuko Jara, co-managing editor: Amandla Publishers
His peers in politics describe him as an independent thinker who takes risks and lets people know what he really thinks, even if it goes against the grain of authority.
At 35, Jara is a former South African Communist Party spokesperson who fell out of favour with the leadership after questioning the party’s support for ANC president Jacob Zuma on corruption charges.
Jara holds an engineering degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is writing a mini thesis towards a master’s degree on land and agrarian studies at the University of the Western Cape. He has been the national director at the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, and a board member of the Aids Consortium and the Treatment Action Campaign. He founded the Employment Equity Alliance, a lobbying group of various NGOs in support of the Employment Equity Act, which legally supports homosexuals, HIV-positive people and the disabled from unfair discrimination in the workplace. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: His kitchen with Indian curries prepared by his wife, Nolene Morris
Lorato Tshenkeng, communications stategist: Congress of the People
Lorato Tshenkeng ventured into the communications industry by chance when he joined South African Airways (SAA) in 2001.
Tshenkeng had abandoned his studies towards a BSc degree in microbiology at the University of the Witwatersrand to work as an air traffic controller for the South African Air Force. The national airliner trained him in internal communications and eventually Tshenkeng worked his way up and became the group’s internal communications manager.
After SAA, he worked for public relations consultancy companies Simeka TWS and FNP Communications, where he served clients such as the African Monitor and the SABC board.
In the latest election campaign, the 30-year-old was tasked with selling the Congress of the People’s presidential candidate, Mvume Dandala, to the public. He is also a founding member of the Friends of Democracy, a website created to support former president Thabo Mbeki after he was recalled. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Kitchen Bar, Fourways, Johannesburg
Lebohang Pheko, political analyst
When many young women were reluctant to publicly criticise the president, Lebohang Pheko took it upon herself to speak out. She co-authored Letter to Thabo Mbeki from African Women, which lambasted the South African government for neglecting gender as a category in the economic analysis of poverty, growth, inequality and the concentration of wealth.
A committed community worker, Pheko interacts with community-based organisations and NGOs in the United Kingdom and Southern Africa in the areas of refugee and immigrant rights, human rights, economic justice and gender equality.
After completing degrees in political studies and sociology as well as an LLB in London, she worked briefly at Amnesty International’s office in that city. She studied public policy at the University of the Witwatersrand. Pheko provides political, gender and trade policy analysis for both local and international media and is the co-founder of Trade Collective, where she works as a policy and advocacy director. —Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Sophia’s, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Malusi Booi, national coordinator:Congress of the People Youth Movement
The soft-spoken but influential co-founder of the Cope Youth Movement, 31-year-old Malusi Booi, cut his teeth in student politics in the late Eighties when he joined the Congress of South African Students.
Booi held several positions including secretary and president of the student representative council at the Durban University of Technology, with the aim of improving both studying and living conditions at the university.
This professional quantity surveyor frankly admits that he was influenced by the socialist content of the rival student body, the PAC-aligned Pan Africanist Student Movement, mainly because of its stance on land ownership.
Booi returned to active politics with the formation of Cope and became the national coordinator of its youth movement. He is a director of a Johannesburg-based logistics company, Cyoyo Logistics. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Ten Bompas, Dunkeld West, Johannesburg
Pat Lebenya-Ntanzi, MP: Inkatha Freedom Party
Pat Lebenya-Ntanzi has been vocal about the need for a fully fledged youth ministry so that issues affecting young people are not treated as secondary by different government departments.
The 32-year-old honed her political skills through the structures of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Youth Brigade, which she now chairs. She also serves on the IFP’s national executive committee. Lebenya-Ntanzi was one of the party’s youngest MPs at the age of 30 and has been a foot soldier for poverty eradication by helping to mobilise communities through the youth brigade and create projects that create an income for families. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Daruma, Elangeni, Durban
Pule Mabe, treasurer general: ANC Youth League
The 29-year-old treasurer general and chairperson of the ANC Youth League’s investment arm Lembede Investment Holdings, Pule Mabe is also an established businessman. He’s a shareholder in TaxiProp, the retail development arm of the South African National Taxi Association and owns KG Media, publishers of a public transport newspaper called Hamba Nathi.
Charged with keeping the ANC Youth League’s finances in order, Mabe started in politics as a member of the Congress of South African Students at the age of 15. Besides being strict with the purse, the youth league also relies on Mabe to talk for the young people, thanks to his experience as a spin doctor.
When he got bored with journalism, he worked as media liaison officer for the Gauteng provincial government and was the spokesperson for Metrorail. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Shot Left-Macnose, Soshanguve
Sipho Nghona, National spokesperson,Congress of the People Youth Movement
Sipho Nghona came into the public eye as the national spokesperson of Congress of the People’s Youth Movement, when he represented the party’s youth at public debates in the run-up to this year’s general election.
A lawyer by profession, he is a partner of Mindcor Executive Search, a recruitment company focused on sourcing high calibre executives, senior and middle management.
Nghona is a founder member of the Black Management Forum’s young professionals and served as its inaugural deputy chairperson in 2007. In the same year, he served in the Gauteng youth legislature.
Nghona was on the team that discussed and finalised the establishment of the National Youth Development Agency before the draft was presented to the National Assembly.
He was also a member of the African Youth Front against Xenophobia, a youth body spearheaded by the ANC Youth League consisting of youth from various political formations, business and entertainment to fight xenophobia. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: The Grill House, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Nkosiphendule Kolisile, chairperson: Gauteng SACP
The new member of the provincial legislature in Gauteng on an ANC ticket, Nkosiphendule Kolisile entered the world of politics at the age of 18. That’s when he signed up for both the SACP and the ANC.
His experience in labour politics, while working as a security guard, equipped him with the organisational skills that helped him rise through the party ranks. He was a shopsteward at mining company, Gold Fields, and at the security company, Group 4 Securicor, a position he was fired from in 2001 for leading a strike action.
Kolisile’s rise to political power began with the SACP’s regional leadership in the West Rand and then deputy national organiser, a position that raised his profile nationally and gave him the support to be elected Gauteng chairperson. He was also on the SACP team that led Khutsong’s successful four-year struggle for the reincorporation of the Merafong Municipality back into Gauteng from the North West. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Spur Steak Ranches, anywhere
Zwelethu Jolobe, political scientist
Zwelethu Jolobe is known for providing an analytical voice on the country’s political happenings for the media. He completed a master’s degree in international relations at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with distinction.
His fascination with the different and often complex ways in which power relations in society manifest, was key to his choice of political science.
Jolobe started his career as a policy researcher for the Centre for Development and Enterprise, a policy think tank in Johannesburg, before taking the academic route and specialising in the area of comparative politics.
At 31, he is a PhD candidate in political science at UCT and his thesis focuses on the theory of political negotiations. — Mmanaledi Mataboge
Lunch spot: Ocean Basket, Cape Town CBD