Meet Sheila Peters – the newly appointed environment MEC from Boksburg

Hailing from an underprivileged and ‘marginalised’ community, Sheila Peters recently took on the newly established position of Gauteng MEC for Environment.

The Patriotic Alliance’s member of the Gauteng Executive Council said serving people has always been important to her, hence she became involved in politics to make a difference to the lives of people in her constituency.

Her goal is to remain faithful to the oath taken as MEC and to serve the people of Gauteng to the best of her abilities as far as environmental conservation, such as the protection and management of natural resources like air, water, soil, plants, and animals is concerned.
Key things that she will be concentrating on include waste management, cleaning of Gauteng, environmental impact studies, global warming and climate change.

Responding to a question about her reaction when she received the news about her new role, Peters said: “We have two seats in the legislature and although I knew that negotiations were underway and that there might be an MEC from our party, I had never thought that I would be the one appointed.”

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Background
Peters’ political journey started when she became a member of the PA, a party that she believes the community resonates with what it stands for, such as striving to empower underprivileged communities.
She previously served as a member of an activist group calling for political and social change in Reiger Park.

To try to make this happen, along with the group members, they formed a community group called Reiger Park Community Forum. It took matters into its own hands to stop the perpetual unplanned power outages in the community, and other social injustices.
They took it upon themselves to protect the public infrastructure, particularly the electricity network, against armed cable thieves and the ringleaders of the illegal electricity connections in the nearby informal settlements.

“Apart from the service delivery issues, when working in the community group we discovered all the community ills plaguing our area, and these range from poverty, hunger, unemployment and substance abuse.
“We tried to elevate fellow residents from poverty calling for youth empowerment, and fed the hungry during Covid-19 when we distributed food to thousands of households.

“We later realised that we were unable to change much in the community unless we go into politics. Therefore, we eventually started mobilising voter support for our PA candidate Clr Edith Klaasen in the election race for Ward 34 councillor. And she won, taking over from the then-councillor Charlie Crawford.
“I was then elected the regional treasurer for the PA Ekurhuleni region.”

Without a formal tertial qualification, Peters worked her way up through corporate where she demonstrated her dedication to performance excellence.
She previously worked for many local and international companies in administration, sales and secretarial positions. She also worked for the FNB’s then-processing centre as a data capturer.
After she was retrenched in 2007, she started a transport and tourism company, providing school transport and tourism, golfing tours and during that period partnered with the metro to provide her business services.

Experience
Although Peters lacks work experience in the fields related to the environmental sector, she feels certain that she will hit the ground running.
She feels her new role resonates with some of the issues she was fighting against in her community, and it aligns with her love for nature and the community at large.

“We all know and see the environmental issues in our communities. Now that the responsibility has been given to me, it opened my eyes to discover the extent of the problem and how these issues are impacting our environment, as well as the consequences they have on our planet.
“In my hometown (Boksburg) for instance, we have a serious problem of illegal dumping, we have the water problems at the Boksburg Lake, we experience toxic tyre burning, and sewage spills that are poisoning our natural resources.
“We were given three months to set up a new entity that will focus on all the environmental issues — so watch this space!”

Adjusting to new life
Peters said as someone who worked in the community and is very attached to her community, she still needs to come to terms with some of the perks that come with her new position.

“I’m a community person and it’s difficult for me to adjust to things like being driven around by the blue light brigades. But I can understand that it comes with the territory of the job. But it’s not something I necessarily wanted considering our role in the community.
Peters also thanked well-wishers for their felicitations, assuring them that she considers being appointed the MEC of Environment a massive responsibility she does not take lightly.

“What is good is that there are so many people in my region, mostly in Reiger Park, that are celebrating with me for my appointment to this higher position.
“I appreciate that some see it as the light at the end of the tunnel. The younger generation, particularly in the coloured communities, feel that we are paving the way for them when it comes to politics. Many of them felt marginalised and thus decided not actively involved in politics.
“These good wishes also mean that we need to deliver. It’s not just a job that you got but you need to deliver for the sake of your community and obviously for the sake of your political party, because we need to show that we can make a difference.”

Family
Peters was born in Eersterust, Pretoria, where she attended her primary and secondary education.
She then moved to Reiger Park where she spent most of her adult life before recently moving to her new home in Boksburg West.

Speaking about her decision to make Boksburg her home, Peters said she fell in love with the place and never wants to leave.
She is married to Buchanan Peters, who worked for Eskom for over two decades before he left and focused on his businesses in the construction sector.

They have two children, Buene’ Peters (son) and Clelynn (daughter).
Buene followed in his father’s footsteps and became an electrical engineer at Eskom. The girl has earned an LLB law degree and she is at the moment working with her father because she can’t find a job at the moment.

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