Ofentse Jeremiah Mokae is a South African politician who has been a

Permanent Delegate to 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 of South Africa, constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate of South Afric ...

for the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

since 2024. A member of the Democratic Alliance, Mokae was a councillor of the

Sol Plaatje Local Municipality The Sol Plaatje Local Municipality is a local municipality in the Frances Baard District Municipality district of the Northern Cape province, South Africa, named after Sol T. Plaatje. It includes the diamond mining city of Kimberley. Main places ...

from 2016 to 2019 and then served as a member of the

Northern Cape Provincial Legislature The Northern Cape Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is a unicameral body of 30 members elected every five years. The current legislature was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African Natio ...

until 2024.

Early life and education

Mokae was born in

Galeshewe Galeshewe is a township in Kimberley, South Africa. Within the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality in the Northern Cape Province, it is named after Kgosi Galeshewe. History The township of Galeshewe was founded in 1878 after diamonds were discov ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. He matriculated from Thabane High School and went to study at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He holds a national diploma in journalism and a B-tech degree. Mokae is currently studying towards a diploma in local government from the University of Fort Hare.

Political career

Mokae joined the

Congress of South African Students The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) is an anti-apartheid Student Organisation established in 1979 in the wake of the June 16 Soweto Uprisings in 1976 in South Africa. Background COSAS was formed in June 1979 after the South African Stu ...

and was elected as the local secretary for the organisation's student body in the Sol Plaatje sub-region in 2006. While at university, he was active in both the South African Student Congress and the Students' Christian Organisation. In 2011, he joined the Democratic Alliance. Mokae returned to Kimberley in 2013. He was appointed as a field worker for the DA. The DA also appointed him as a provincial youth coordinator and as a researcher at the provincial legislature. In 2014, Mokae participated in US President Barack Obama's

Young African Leaders Initiative The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is an initiative of the United States Department of State. It was begun in 2010 by President Barack Obama. YALI is a programme aimed at educating and networking young African leaders with activities inc ...

. In 2016, he was elected as a proportional representation councillor of the

. At the age of 29, he was the youngest member of the DA's caucus. In September 2019, the DA selected him to fill

Allen Grootboom Gregory Allen Grootboom (born 8 July 1954) is a retired South African politician and psychologist. Biography Grootboom was born in 1954. He started his student activism at the University of the Western Cape in 1973. He soon became involved with ...

's seat in the

. He was sworn in on 11 September 2019. Following the 2024 general election, Mokae was sworn in as a Member of the National Council of Provinces.

Personal life

Mokae is an LGBT-activist.

References

External links

Mr Ofentse Mokae
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokae, Ofentse Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Kimberley, Northern Cape Members of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians 21st-century South African politicians Members of the National Council of Provinces