Mmbara Hulisani Kevin (born 1979) is the former president of PAYCO, a youth wing of

PAC Pac or PAC may refer to: Military * Rapid Deployment Force (Malaysia), an armed forces unit * Patriot Advanced Capability, of the MIM-104 Patriot missile * Civil Defense Patrols (''Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil''), Guatemalan militia and paramili ...

in South Africa. Hulisani made news headlines when he took a defiant stance against

Letlapa Mphahlele Letlapa Mphahlele (born 8 December 1960) is a member of the National Assembly of South Africa who represents the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. Exile Mphahlele left for exile in Botswana in August 1978. Upon his arrival, he joined the Pan A ...

, even going to the extent of calling for his resignation.

Early life

Hulisani was born in the former homeland of

Venda Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the ...

, in South Africa, in 1979. Throughout his early life, there is no record to imply any interest in politics. It was only during high school, when Hulisani became the president of the SRC of Guvhukuvhu High School, in the village of Phiphidi in the former Venda; that it became apparent. His stay at the helm of the SRC was marked by a renewed politicization of students who before had quietly led their student lives. Unconfirmed reports places, several student marches in that school, during his reign as president of the SRC.

Politics

Background

It is not clear when Hulisani became a member of the PAC and PAYCO in particular. But before serving as the president of PAYCO, Hulisani held some positions within the ranks of the party including its student wing, PASMA, and branches. He also served as the Secretary General of PAYCO before becoming the President. Hulisani was also one of the voices that opposed the Floor-Crossing policy, championed and legislated by the

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

government, which allowed party representatives in parliament to move to another party while keeping their seats in parliament. Hulisani also worked as a researcher for the

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 ...

legislature in 2003, working with Maxwel Nemadzivhanani,http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/hulisani/mmbara Hulisani's profile in LinkedIn then Provincial chairman of PAC in

Limpopo Province Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, 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 th ...

PAYCO Presidency

At a PAYCO national congress held in Durban, under the theme "Mobilizing Youth Power to Build Socialism and African Unity", Hulisani was elected president of PAYCO succeeding its former president Sbusiso Xaba. In March 2008, he condemned the racist video made by students from

Free State University The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

. Of the acts portrayed in the video he said they "make a mockery of the struggle against apartheid settler colonialism" On 30 May 2009, Hulisani convened the 1st Mayihlome Annual Lecture, which was addressed by the former president of PAYCO, Mashao Matome. The lecture was used as a forum to discuss a new program adopted by PAYCO called IOTA, which is aimed at repositioning the

. On the same occasion an online News publication called "Mayihlome" was launched on

WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...

, Hulisani currently serves as its Chief Editor. At the PAYCO Kimberly National Congress held in November 2009, Hulisani was succeeded by Ndebele Linda as president of PAYCO

African Socialist International (ASI)

Hulisani, in his capacity as an official of PAYCO, has a relationship with the ASI, an international body of socialists who pursue a pan-African agenda. In 2006, he had a meeting with ASI Chairman

Omali Yeshitela Omali Yeshitela (born Joseph Waller on October 9, 1941) is an African revolutionary, political leader, theoretician and author. He is the founder and chairman of the African People's Socialist Party, which leads the Uhuru Movement. According ...

and others, on his visit to South Africa.

Mayihlome News

On 30 May 2009 Hulisani, as President of the PAYCO launched Mayihlome News, an online Pan-Africanist journal. Initially, Mayihlome News was hosted on the free WordPress platform, and in July 2014 it was moved to a self-hosted platform. Mayihlome News has attracted Pan-Africanists worldwide giving insight into the Pan-Africanist political landscape in South Africa.

Controversies

Many controversies have followed the election of Hulisani as president of PAYCO. Some even call them politically suicidal:

Call for Lethlapa Mphahlele to step down

9 January 2008: Hulisani, in a statement, called for the resignation of PAC president Lethlapa Mphahlele. This position was met with strong objection among the leadership of the PAC, who even mentioned that PAYCO did not qualify, as a component structure, to call for the resignation of the president of the organization. Some provincial PAYCO leaders distanced themselves from the decision and the pronouncement made by Hulisani, some even calling it unilateral. However, Hulisani insisted that the decision was not taken by his person but by the NEC of PAYCO, including the provincial leaders.

2009 General Elections

30 January 2009: a communication was made by the PAYCO NEC, to the members, on the decision to boycott the 2009 General Elections of South Africa to refuse the

votes. This position received some opposition from within the

Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania Pan Africanist Youth Congress (PAYCO) is the youth wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by ...

, and was also against the position of

, as it participated in the elections.

Education

Hulisani Holds an LLB (hons) from

Unisa The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

where he also completed his BJuris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hulisani Kevin, Mmbara 1979 births Living people People from Thulamela Local Municipality South African Venda people Pan Africanist Congress of Azania politicians University of South Africa alumni