Mathupa Lameck Mokoena (born 23 March 1957) is a South African politician and

traditional leader A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

who is currently the chairperson of the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders and the national president of the

Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) is a South African non-governmental pressure group which was formed in 1987 by some of the traditional leaders of the homeland of KwaNdebele, with the support of the United Democratic ...

(Contralesa). The leader of

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

's Mathibela Tribal Authority, he represented the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(ANC) in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 1994 to 2009.

Traditional leadership

Born on 23 March 1957, Mokoena is the leader of the Mathibela Tribal Authority in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, Mpumalanga. He served as chairperson of the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders from 2012 to 2017, when he was succeeded by Sandile Ngomane; he returned to the same office at the conclusion of Ngomane's term in 2022. Mokoena is also the president of Contralesa. In that capacity, he was a firm opponent of the Customary Initiation Bill, an attempt by Parliament to regulate customary

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

schools; among other things, he objected to the inclusion of women on the proposed oversight committees, which he said would be "to us Africans... an insult".

Legislative career

Mokoena was elected to represent the ANC in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

in the 1994 general election, South Africa's first under universal suffrage. In the next general election in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, he was elected to an ANC seat in the

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ma ...

; he served the constituency of

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

, which at the time was called the Northern Province and was inclusive of Bushbuckridge. He served two terms in the National Council of Provinces, gaining re-election in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

External links

2021 interview
about initiation schools Living people 1957 births African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African politicians 20th-century South African politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Members of the National Council of Provinces {{DEFAULTSORT:Mokoena, Lameck