Ashor Sarupen (born 1 July 1988) is a South African politician who serves as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the Democratic Alliance (DA), after having taken office on 22 May 2019. He is a representative of the party on both the Standing Committee on Appropriations and the Standing Committee on Finance. He also served as Chief of Staff to DA Federal Council Chairperson

Helen Zille Otta Helene Maree (''née'' Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she w ...

, and presently serves as her Parliamentary Counsellor. He previously served as a Member of the

Gauteng Provincial Legislature The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 73 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the sixth, was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African Natio ...

from 2014 to 2019 and before that, he was the Democratic Alliance Chief Whip and City Councillor in the

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

from 2011 to 2014.

Biography

Sarupen was born in Pietermaritzburg in the former Natal Province. His family soon moved to Springs. He studied at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

where he obtained a BSc Honours Degree and then a Masters in Business Administration. Sarupen identifies as an economic liberal and joined the DA in 2007. He started his career as a research analyst with the party in 2009. He was elected to the

Council centred around the

East Rand The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includ ...

in 2011 and was appointed the party's Chief Whip. He was elected to the

in May 2014 and became the party's Spokesperson on Finance. He was a strategist for the DA's 2014 national election campaign in Gauteng, and fulfilled a similar role in 2019, and subsequently ran the DA's 2016 campaign in Ekurhuleni for the local government elections. He became an MP after the May 2019 general elections. He was appointed the party's spokesperson on the Standing Committee on Appropriations. In October 2019, he ran Helen Zille's campaign for DA Federal Council Chairperson. She subsequently won the election. During the DA's 2020 Federal Congress, delegates voted to add a third deputy chairperson to the Federal Council, the party's second-highest decision-making body. Sarupen was elected in a special election on 27 November 2020 with 73% of the vote. He serves alongside

James Masango James Masango is a South African politician, and a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). He currently serves in the national leadership as deputy chairperson of the Federal Council, and as a municipal councillor for the DA in Govan ...

and Thomas Walters.

References

External links

Ashor Sarupen – People's AssemblyMr Ashor Nick Sarupen – Parliament of South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarupen, Ashor Living people 1988 births Members of the National Assembly of South Africa South African politicians of Indian descent People from Gauteng People from Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality University of the Witwatersrand alumni Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Politicians from Gauteng 21st-century South African politicians