Seiso Joel Mohai is a South African politician who is currently the Chief Whip of the Majority Party 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 ...

(NCOP). He was first elected to that position after the 2014 general election and he represents the

African National Congress 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 install ...

. He formerly served in both 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 rep ...

and the Free State Provincial Legislature, and he was a Member of the Free State Executive Council from 2004 to 2013.

Early life and activism

In the early 1980s, Mohai attended secondary school in

Botshabelo Botshabelo, meaning "a place of refuge", is a large township set up in 1979 by the then apartheid government. It is located 45 km east of Bloemfontein in the present-day Free State province of South Africa. Botshabelo is now the largest ...

, a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

outside

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

. While a student, he became active in anti-apartheid politics, including through 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 South African Youth Congress. He also helped established the Garment and Allied Workers' Union among textiles workers in the region. After the

(ANC) was unbanned in 1990, he was recruited to the leadership of the

ANC Youth League The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (NW ...

in the Southern Free State region around Botshabelo. He was elected to the Youth League's National Executive Committee in 1998.

Career in government

Mohai represented the ANC during a brief stint in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

from 1999 to 2001 or 2002. Thereafter he returned to the Free State to serve as ANC Chief Whip in the Free State Provincial Legislature. He held the whip until the 2004 general election, after which he was appointed to the Free State Executive Council by

Beatrice Marshoff Frances Beatrice Marshoff (born 17 September 1957) was Premier of the Free State from 2004 to 2009. She succeeded Winkie Direko to the position on 22 April 2004, and was replaced by Ace Magashule on 6 May 2009. Marshoff is also a registered nu ...

, the newly elected

Premier of the Free State The Premier of the Free State is the head of government of the Free State province of South Africa. The current Premier of the Free State is Sisi Ntombela, a member of the African National Congress, who was appointed in March 2018. She took of ...

; Marshoff made him

Member of the Executive Council In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...

(MEC) for Public Works, Roads and Transport. After the next general election in 2009, he was appointed MEC for Finance by Marshoff's successor, Premier

Ace Magashule Elias Sekgobelo "Ace" Magashule (born 3 November 1959) is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who was Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC) until his suspension on 3 May 2021. He served as the Premier ...

. However, in March 2013, Magashule fired Mohai from the Executive Council, replacing him with Elzabe Rockman. He said that Mohai was a "very strong leader" and that the ANC had decided to " redeploy" him to the national Parliament. Mohai rejoined the

on 26 March 2013, filling a

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...

. He served in that seat until the 2014 general election, when he was elected to the

(NCOP), the upper house of the Parliament, and appointed the ANC's Chief Whip in the NCOP. He was re-elected both to his NCOP seat and to the whip's office after the 2019 general election. In January 2023, he was one of three candidates nominated by the ANC for election as Mayor of Mangaung.

References

External link

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohai, Seiso Living people Year of birth missing (living people) African National Congress politicians Members of the National Council of Provinces Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature