Mandisa Sibongile Mashego (born 26 August 1973) is a South African politician and feminist. A former member of the

Economic Freedom Fighters The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African left-wing to far-left pan-Africanist and Marxist–Leninist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and hi ...

(EFF), she served as the party's provincial chairperson in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

from 2018 to 2020. She was also 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 2020.

Early life

Mashego was born in

King William's Town Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London. Qonce, with a population of around ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

, to a black mother and a white father. She grew up in the Mayfern township of

Nelspruit Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River (Mpumalanga), Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, ea ...

. She obtained a B-Tech in Public Relations from the

Durban University of Technology The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a multi-campus university situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 following the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and it was initially known as the Durban Instit ...

Political career

Mashego joined 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) while still a student. She left the ANC in 2012 and soon joined the EFF. She was elected as a Member of the

in 2014 and the following year, she was appointed acting provincial chairperson of the EFF following the resignation of Zorro Boshielo. Mashego was elected provincial chairperson for a full term in 2018 and consequently became the party's second elected female provincial chairperson.

Political views

Mashego describes herself as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and an opponent of

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...

. She said in an interview with the ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

'' that the replacement of the party's first female provincial chairperson, Betty Diale, "saddened" her. In April 2020, Mashego announced that she supports the reintroduction of the

death penalty in South Africa Capital punishment in South Africa was abolished on 6 June 1995 by the ruling of the Constitutional Court in the case of ''S v Makwanyane'', following a five-year and four-month moratorium since February 1990. History The standard method for ca ...

Tensions with Julius Malema

In December 2019 at the EFF's national elective conference, Mashego opposed Marshall Dlamini for the position of Secretary-General. Her opposition to Dlamini caused tensions between her and party leader

Julius Malema Julius Sello Malema (born 3 March 1981) is a South African politician and activist who is a Member of Parliament and the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a left-wing party which he founded in 2013. He was formerly the President of ...

. Malema later suggested in a tweet, which caused speculation, that Mashego was planning on defecting to former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba's party. In February 2020, the ''

Sunday World The ''Sunday World'' is an Irish newspaper published by Independent News & Media. It is the second largest selling "popular" newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, and is also sold in Northern Ireland where a modified edition with more stories r ...

'' newspaper reported that Mashego had resigned as provincial chairperson and as a Member of the

. The EFF disputed this claim and Mashego later denied that she had resigned. On 31 March 2020, Mashego resigned as EFF provincial chairperson and also from the provincial legislature. Deputy chairperson Itani Mukwevho was named her successor. In August 2020, Mashego made an appearance at the launch of Mashaba's political party,

ActionSA ActionSA is a South African political party established by former mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, soon after he left the Democratic Alliance. The party states that it has been established to "set South Africa free from the restraints of ...

. In January 2021, Mashego announced that she had joined the Abantu Batho Congress.

Personal life

Mashego has not been married and has one daughter.

Notes

References

External links

Mandisa Mashego – People's Assembly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mashego, Mandisa Living people Xhosa people 1973 births Economic Freedom Fighters politicians People from the Eastern Cape Women members of provincial legislatures of South Africa People from Qonce People from Mpumalanga People from Gauteng People from Johannesburg South African feminists