Two DA councillors from Govan Mbeki Municipality are now members of legislature

SECUNDA – After the national and provincial elections on May 29, two DA councillors from Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM), James Masango and Teboho Sekaledi, are now members of the Mpumalanga legislature.

Masango and Sekaledi took over from Banele Nkabinde from Leandra and Lehlokgonolo Madumise from Bethal, respectively. Masango and Sekaledi were introduced and welcomed during the council meeting on July 25.

Masango served as a DA member of Parliament from 2004 to 2019 and his vast career includes being the constituency chairperson for GMM in 1998, serving until 2004, provincial deputy chairperson for the DA in 2000 and Ward 5 councillor in December 2000 for GMM for the DA and also elected as a councillor at Gert Sibande District Council.

He became a political administrator of the DA in Limpopo in 2007 before handing over to the newly elected leader after the provincial congress in December 2008.

He was appointed to be part of the federal legal commission of the DA from 2007 to 2015 and served on the DA Federal Executive Committee and Federal Council from 2005 to 2018.

He was elected provincial chairperson in April 2005 and re-elected in 2007, 2009, and 2012. He served in this role until April 2015 when elected as the DA’s Mpumalanga provincial leader.

He became the DA’s national caucus chairperson in 2009, where he served until November 2011 when he transferred to the legislature and served as the chief whip.

He excelled and became the DA national caucus whip in 2014 and served until August 2015, when he transferred to the Mpumalanga Legislature to serve as the leader of the opposition until 2019.

Masango told the Ridge Times he is grateful to be part of the seventh legislature and is bringing his knowledge and experience to the legislature to ensure the Mpumalanga communities benefit.

“We are faced with a high unemployment rate, and it is time to implement policies that can create employment to alleviate poverty,” said Masango.

“Legislature should now work for our communities and stop being political when taking its programs to the community.”

Sekaledi said as a civil engineering graduate, he will use his knowledge for implementation instead of being like municipalities that only talk about things and fail to implement.

“My youthfulness will help our legislature because I am coming up with new ideas based on my qualifications in the development of our province,” said Sekaledi.

“I hold a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering with experience in engineering. What I learned when I was a councillor at GMM is that our government fails to implement its policies because they rely more on theory than practical activities.

“I want to implement what is on paper and bring it to life for our community development purposes,” said Sekaledi.

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