Mario Masher

Last updated

Mario Masher
Member of the National Assembly
In office
May 1994 –June 1999
Personal details
Born1948/1949
George, Cape Province
Union of South Africa
Died(2020-11-26)26 November 2020 (aged 71)
Political party

Mario George Masher (died 26 November 2020) was a South African politician from the Western Cape. He represented the National Party (NP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999, when he defected to the African National Congress (ANC). A teacher by profession, he formerly represented the Labour Party in the Tricameral Parliament. After joining the ANC, he was appointed South African Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macau.

Contents

Early life and career

Masher was born in 1948 or 1949 in George in the former Cape Province; he was the eldest of several siblings. [1] He was a teacher by profession and from 1980 to 1986 [2] he served as an independent local councillor in the now-defunct Pacaltsdorp Municipality. [1]

Legislative career: 1988–1999

Masher served in the Coloured chamber of the apartheid-era Tricameral Parliament from 1988, [2] representing the Labour Party. [1] In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Masher was elected to represent the NP in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament. [3] He served as a party whip for the NP (later restyled as the New National Party). [4]

In April 1999, ahead of the 1999 general election, Masher announced that he was resigning from the NP to join the ruling ANC. [4] [5] He said that he was leaving the NP because the party and the Western Cape provincial government were being hijacked by right-wingers and P. W. Botha acolytes. [6]

Later career

Masher was not re-elected to Parliament in 1999 but instead became a director in the Department of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2003. [2] He was subsequently appointed as South African Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macau. [1] [2]

In 2016, he joined the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI; Concerned Local Residents), a minor political party based in George, and became its candidate for election as a councillor in George Local Municipality in the 2016 local elections. [1] Although PBI won the seat, another candidate was sworn into the council. [7] Masher died on 26 November 2020 of a heart attack, aged 71. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Hulde gebring aan oudpolitikus". George Herald (in Afrikaans). 3 December 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Mario George Masher". Macao International Trade and Investment Fair. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Minutes of proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly" (PDF). Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. 24 May 1994. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 "NNP whip Masher quits to join ranks of ANC". Cape Argus. 7 April 1999. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "NNP voter support 'collapsing'". The Mail & Guardian. 9 April 1999. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  6. ↑ Ferree, Karen E. (2010). Framing the Race in South Africa: The Political Origins of Racial Census Elections. Cambridge University Press. p. 188. ISBN   978-1-139-49476-2.
  7. ↑ "Kingmakers make a beeline for mayco". George Herald. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
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