Lindiwe Mazibuko owns her future

A packed-to-capacity Love Books was host to the launch of parliamentary leader of the DA Lindiwe Mazibuko’s biography, written by Donwald Pressly.

In Owning the Future: Lindiwe Mazibuko and the changing face of the DA, Pressly writes about Mazibuko being the first black person to lead the parliamentary opposition, her personal life and her campaign to unseat veteran Member of Parliament Athol Trollip.

Speaking at the launch, Mazibuko said she had never imagined being written about, especially at such a tender age.

“This has been a completely surreal experience from start to finish,” said Mazibuko. “I’m 33 years old, I’ve been in politics for about seven years going into my eighth and I didn’t anticipate that at this stage in my career somebody would be writing a biography about my life. I didn’t know I’d lived enough of a life to write about.”

Mazibuko reflected on the strangeness of going through the book, and reading the impressions of her life and career from a perspective other than her own.

One of the challenges of producing this book was divulging information concerning her personal life.

“One of the things I don’t do in my career is talk about my personal life. I am very public about the fact that I don’t talk about my private life. I had a very blissful childhood in Swaziland and a very difficult childhood in apartheid South Africa.

“I lost my father at a very early age and it had a very deep impact on my sense of justice.”

The young politician commented on her plans on becoming president sometime in the near future.

“Of course I want to be president but I don’t think I want to be president in 2019. Definitely 2024 but 2019 is one of those ‘watch this space’.”