Luyolo Mphithi

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Luyolo Mphithi
Luyolo Mphithi.jpg
Mphithi in 2018
Shadow Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 June 2019
DeputyNazley Sharif
LeaderMmusi Maimane
John Steenhuisen
Preceded byDenise Robinson
Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance Youth
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 April 2018
Preceded byYusuf Cassim
Member of the National Assembly of South Africa
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 May 2019
Personal details
Born (1992-09-01) 1 September 1992 (age 29)
NationalitySouth African
Political partyDemocratic Alliance
Alma materUniversity of Witwatersrand
OccupationMember of Parliament
ProfessionPolitician

Luyolo Mphithi (born 1 September 1992) is a South African politician who has been the Shadow Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency and a Member of Parliament since 2019. A member of the Democratic Alliance, he currently serves as the federal leader of its youth structure.

Early life and education[]

From the University of the Witwatersrand, Mphithi has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, international relations and law as well as a joint honour's degree in international relations and political science. He is currently pursuing his master's degree in Public Administration at the same university.[1]

Additionally, Mphithi has a certificate in political formations and structures from the International Academy of Leadership (IAF) in Gummersbach, Germany. He also holds a certificate in research Methodology from Bowdoin College and a certificate in public management from Syracuse University in the United States.[1]

Career[]

Mphithi was employed by the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature as a research and communication officer, responsible for researching the fields of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, human settlements, public works, roads and transport, as well as public safety, security and liaison.[1]

He was also employed as a consultant at various institutions, such as the Executive Research Associates, the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.[1]

Political career[]

Mphithi served as a Democratic Alliance councillor in the City of Johannesburg for the community of Meadowlands in Soweto. During his time on the city council, he was a member of the committees on public safety and environment, infrastructure and services.[1] He also served as the director and head of department of political administration for the municipality.[1]

Mphithi is a DA's Young Leaders Programme graduate and has held multiple roles in the DA. While a student at the University of Witwatersrand, he was head of the university's Democratic Alliance Student Organisation branch and was also the Gauteng DA Youth deputy chair in 2012.[1] He serves as a member of the party's Federal Council for the Johannesburg region. Additionally, he serves as treasurer for the African Liberal Youth (ALY). He represented the organisation at the African Liberal Network's 2017 conference in Nairobi, Kenya.[1]

At the DA's conference in April 2018, Mphithi was elected federal leader of the DA Youth, succeeding Yusuf Cassim.[2]

Mphithi stood as a DA parliamentary candidate on the national list in the 2019 national elections, and was subsequently elected to the National Assembly and sworn in on 22 May 2019.[3][4] On 5 June, Mphithi was appointed Shadow Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency by DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, in his second shadow cabinet.[5]

Maimane resigned as DA leader in October 2019 and John Steenhuisen was voted in as his interim successor in November.[6] In May 2020, the DA announced that it would hold its Federal Congress to elect new leadership on 31 October to 1 November. Mphithi was against the decision and later supported KwaZulu-Natal MPL Mbali Ntuli's bid for DA leader.[7] Steenhuisen was elected leader for a full term in a landslide.[8] He announced his shadow cabinet in December and kept Mphithi as Shadow Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency.[9]

Awards and accolades[]

Mphithi was awarded the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Scholarship, the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, as well as the Mandela Washington Fellowship of the Young African Leaders Initiative.[1]

In 2017, he was cited by the Mail & Guardian as one of the "Top 200 Young South Africans" for his work in politics.[1] In the same year, Avance Media ranked him as one of the 100 most influential young South Africans in politics.[1]

Schweizer-Reneke incident[]

In January 2019, months before the May 2019 general election, Mphithi shared on Twitter a single photo of the Grade R classroom of the Schweizer-Reneke primary school following reports that the school had segregated children of different races. This was a photo that had been trending on social media and Mpithi was not the first to share it. The story regarding the segregated classroom had also been widely reported by the media. Mphithi re-shared the photo before establishing the true facts, and criticized the teacher Elana Barkhuizen for being a racist . Mphithi was accused of having "sowed racial division" in Schweizer-Reneke, as a result of re-sharing the photo and his comments on the teacher. [10][11] The school later clarified that the widely shared belief that children were not separated due to race was not true.[12] However, the North West MEC for Education, , suspended the teacher, Elana Barkhuizen.[12] Barkhuizen then approached the trade union Solidarity, and they approached the labour court, which overturned her suspension in February as unfounded.[13]

Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann wrote a letter to Maimane, in which he singled out and scapegoated Mphithi, and said he "sowed racial division" and that he should apologise to Barkhuizen and the children, whose identities he exposed.[11] Mphithi refused to apologise and Maimane did not see reason to sanction him as he was not responsible for the narrative being spread both on social media and the media that the school racially segregated students. This response from the DA resulted in a claim that the party lost large amounts of Afrikaner votes at the May election due to Mphithi's actions.[14] In November, DA Deputy Federal Chairperson, Refiloe Nt'sekhe, announced that the party would be investigating the incident.[15] In March 2020, Nt'sekhe said that the report had been presented to the party's Federal Executive (FedEx) and that the FedEx had resolved to refer the report to the party's Federal Legal Commission to determine if disciplinary charges should be laid.[16] The report exonerated Mphithi and found that the loss of Afrikaner votes was also due to poor communication and the party's campaign strategy, and not only Mphith's tweet. The party’s Federal Executive unanimously adopted the report exonerating Mphithi which named those responsible for the loss of the Afrikaner votes as the party's former CEO, Paul Boughey, the former Campaign Director, Jonathan Moakes, and Executive Director of Communications, Siviwe Gwarube, elected an MP after the 2019 election and appointed as the National Spokesperson of the party by the Leader of the DA, John Steenhuisen in November 2020. [17] [18][19]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Luyolo Mphithi". Democratic Alliance. Retrieved 20 January 2021. {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
  2. ^ "Women and youth leaders elected on eve of #DACongress2018". IOL. Pretoria. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  3. ^ Lekabe, Thapelo (16 March 2019). "DA releases list of candidates to represent party for elections". Eyewitness News. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  4. ^ "SEE: These are the people who will represent you in Parliament, provincial legislatures". News24. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  5. ^ Gerber, Jan (5 June 2019). "Here's the DA's 'shadow cabinet'". News24. Retrieved 20 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Mailovich, Claudi (17 November 2019). "John Steenhuisen elected as the DA's interim leader". BusinessDay. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  7. ^ Gerber, Jan (30 October 2020). "DA elective conference: Who supports who?". News24. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  8. ^ "John Steenhuisen wins DA leadership race". eNCA. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  9. ^ Mazzone, Natasha. "DA announces new Shadow Cabinet that will bring Real Hope and Real Change". Democratic Alliance. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Schweizer-Reneke: A town where segregation rules". www.iol.co.za.
  11. ^ a b Peterson, Tammy (16 January 2019). "DA youth leader sowed racial division in Schweizer-Reneke furore, Solidarity charges". News24. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  12. ^ a b Tshehle, Boitumelo (11 January 2019). "It's language, not race, says North West school - but MEC doesn't buy it". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  13. ^ "IN FULL l 'I am a good teacher': read Elana Barkhuizen's statement on THAT 'racist' photo". TimesLIVE. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  14. ^ "Maimane's costly knee-jerk response to Schweizer-Reneke – IRR". Biznews. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  15. ^ "DA to investigate handling of Schweizer-Reneke racism allegations - report". News24. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  16. ^ Seleka, Ntwaagae (8 March 2020). "'Racist' Schweizer-Reneke school picture could have contributed to voter loss - DA". News24. Retrieved 24 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "DA report 'clears' youth leader Luyolo Mphithi of Schweizer-Reneke race furore". BusinessLIVE.
  18. ^ "DA appoints Siviwe Gwarube as its new National Spokesperson". Democratic Alliance.
  19. ^ Solly Malatsi steps down as DA national spokesperson, Siviwe Gwarube steps in

External links[]

Party political offices
Preceded by Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance Youth
2018–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency
2019–present 		Incumbent
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