Wouter Wynand Wessels (born 18 March 1985) is a South African politician and a Member of the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...

for the

Freedom Front Plus The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus; af, Vryheidsfront Plus, ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald. Its current stated policy positions include ab ...

(FF Plus). He is also the chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on the Auditor General. He took office as an MP on 1 December 2017 and succeeded the former party leader

Pieter Mulder Pieter Willem Adriaan Mulder (born 26 July 1951) is a South African politician and the former leader of the Freedom Front Plus. He served as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Cabinet of President Jacob Zuma from ...

, who resigned from Parliament a day earlier.

Early life

Wessels was born on 18 March 1985 in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He matriculated from Grens High School (Afrikaans: ''Hoërskool Grens'') and subsequently studied at the

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

. He was the FF Plus's campus leader.

Career

After university, he worked for the FF Plus in the Free State. He became the personal secretary to party leader

following his appointment as a deputy minister in the

cabinet of South Africa The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the President, the Deputy President, and the Ministers. Overview The President appoints the Deputy President and m ...

. He served in the post for five years from 2009 to 2014. He serves as the deputy leader of the FF Plus in the Free State and is the party's head of elections. Wessels is a member of the party's federal council, the federal executive and the national executive committee. He was the national youth leader of the FF Plus. Wessels became a Member of the

Free State Provincial Legislature The Free State Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Free State. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the executive council from among the members of the leading party ...

in 2013. He returned to the provincial legislature following the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

resigned from Parliament in November 2017. Wessels was then appointed to the National Assembly to take up Mulder's seat. His wife, Tammy, filled his seat in the provincial legislature. He was re-elected as an MP in May 2019. His wife, Tammy, was also appointed as an MP for the FF Plus. Wessels was re-elected to the National Assembly in the 2024 general election.

Personal life

Wessels married Tammy Breedt in 2015. They were the victims of a home burglary in 2018.

References

External links

Wouter Wynand Wessels – People's AssemblyMr Wouter Wynand Wessels – Parliament of South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wessels, Wynand Living people 1985 births Freedom Front Plus politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Politicians from the Eastern Cape Politicians from the Free State (province) Afrikaner people University of the Free State alumni