Tandi Mahambehlala is a South African politician who has served as the Chairperson of the

Portfolio Committee on Tourism The Portfolio Committee on Tourism is a portfolio committee in the National Assembly of South Africa. The committee scrutinises the work of the Department of Tourism and South African Tourism. Since September 2021, Tandi Mahambehlala of the Afri ...

since 2021. A member of 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), she served as the Chairperson of the

Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation The Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation is a portfolio committee in the National Assembly of South Africa that focuses on the Department of International Relations and Cooperation as well as the African Renaissance and I ...

from 2019 to 2021. Mahambehlala was Deputy Minister of Communications between 2017 and 2018. She has been a Member of Parliament since 2014.

Early life and education

Mahambehlala served on the

Students' Representative Council {{Unreferenced, date=July 2014A students' representative council, also known as a students' administrative council, represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms par ...

of Msobomvu High School from 1988 to 1990. She earned an advanced diploma in

Public Administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

in 2014 and an

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...

in Public Administration from the University of the Western Cape in 2016. In 2017, Mahambehlala began studying for a Master of Public Administration through UWC. She also holds certificates in Audio-Visual Communications, Community Profiling and Community Needs Assessment and Programme Design and Presentation.

Career

In 2005, Mahambehlala was involved with the establishment of the Western Cape Youth Commission. She was an

African National Congress 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 ...

(ANCYL) branch secretary and the deputy secretary of the league's Dullah Omar Region from 2004 to 2008. From 2005 to 2008, she worked as a community developer for the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remo ...

's Department of Social Development. In 2008, she was elected as the provincial secretary of the

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, a position she held until 2011. From 2011 to 2014, Mahambehlala worked for Eskom as a senior advisor responsible for Stakeholder Relations.

Parliamentary career

Mahambehlala stood as an ANC parliamentary candidate from the

in the 2014 national elections, and was subsequently elected to 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 ...

and sworn in on 21 May 2014. She was then appointed to parliamentary portfolio committees on energy, small business development, and telecommunications and postal services. In March 2017, she was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Communications by president

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

. She held the position until 26 February 2018, when newly elected president Cyril Ramaphosa announced his cabinet. Mahambehlala stood for re-election at 49th on the ANC's national list in the 2019 national elections and was re-elected. She was then elected as the chair of the

. During her time as chair of the committee, Mahambehlala was critical of International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor's inaction against officials implicated in the controversial purchase of a dilapidated building in New York for R118 million, telling Pandor during a committee meeting in February 2021: "You must spare yourself from self-importance — your utterances, I find them very arrogant." On 26 August 2021, the ANC announced that Mahambehlala would swap positions with

Supra Mahumapelo Supra Obakeng Ramoeletsi Mahumapelo is a South African politician and musician. He served as the Provincial Secretary of the African National Congress North West Provincial Leadership from 2011 until August 2018. He previously served as Speaker ...

, the chairperson of the

. She stepped down as chair of the portfolio committee on international relations and cooperation on 27 August 2021. On 7 September 2021, she was voted in as chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Tourism, replacing Mahumapelo. In December 2022, Mahambehlala was one of five ANC MPs who defied the party's instruction to vote against the adoption on the Section 89 Panel report on whether sufficient evidence exists to show that President Cyril Ramaphosa committed a serious violation of the Constitution or law or committed a serious misconduct amid the 2020 Phala Phala Robbery, but before voting closed Mahambehlala attempted to change her vote. The ANC has responded by saying that disciplinary action will be taken against them.

References

External links

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Profile
at

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahambehlala, Tandi Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Xhosa people Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African politicians University of the Western Cape alumni