Zakhele Mbhele (born 9 November 1984) is a South African politician. A Member of Parliament of the Democratic Alliance in the National Assembly, Mbhele served as Media Liaison Officer for Western Cape Premier Helen Zille from November 2011 to May 2014. [1] In the 2014 general election, Mbhele was elected to parliament and served till 2024.
Mbhele is openly gay, making him the first openly gay Black member of parliament. [2] [3] [4] He is one of a number of openly LGBT members of parliament, alongside fellow DA MPs Mike Waters and Ian Ollis. While attending University of Witwatersrand, he led ACTIVATE, the university’s LGBT campus group, [5] and later served on the board of Joburg Pride. He was cited by the Mail & Guardian as one of "Top 200 Young South Africans" for his Civil Society work in 2010. [6]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in South Africa have the same legal rights as non-LGBT people. South Africa has a complex and diverse history regarding the human rights of LGBT people. The legal and social status of between 400,000 to over 2 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex South Africans has been influenced by a combination of traditional South African morals, colonialism, and the lingering effects of apartheid and the human rights movement that contributed to its abolition.
Nomaindiya Mfeketo is a South African politician who served as South African Ambassador to the United States from 2020 to 2023, Minister of Human Settlements from 2018 to 2019, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2009 to 2014, and mayor of Cape Town from 1998 to 2000 and again from 2002 to 2006.
Otta Helene Maree, known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she was the Premier of the Western Cape province for two five-year terms, and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. She served as Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009.
General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 2009 to elect members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. These were the fourth general elections held since the end of the apartheid era.
Jeremy Talfer Nell is a South African cartoonist who writes under the pen name Jerm. In 2020, his public page was removed by Facebook after repeatedly violating the social network's policies against hate speech. He was previously requested to retract a homophobic statement made on another social network, Twitter.
Lynne Brown is a South African politician who is a former Minister of Public Enterprises and former Premier of the Western Cape Province. She was born in Cape Town and grew up in Mitchells Plain. She was appointed Premier of the Western Cape following the resignation of Ebrahim Rasool in July 2008. Previously, she was Minister for Economic Development and Tourism. She is a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and an elected member of its National Executive Committee in 2007 and 2012. She is from a coloured background and was the fourth coloured premier of the Western Cape, the second from the ANC, and the first openly gay person to be appointed to a cabinet post in any African government.
The politics of the Western Cape differs from that of most other provinces in South Africa, because, unlike the other provinces, the African National Congress (ANC) does not dominate the political landscape. Instead, the province is a stronghold for the Democratic Alliance (DA), which has won a majority of the vote in the province in every national, provincial, and municipal election since 2009. The Western Cape's political landscape is also notable for the presence of a relatively strong local devolution and separatist movement.
Ryan Nicolas Coetzee is a South African politician and political strategist, who served as special adviser to Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg and was the 2015 General Election Director of Strategy at Liberal Democrat HQ. In 2016, he was director of strategy for the campaign for the UK to remain in the EU.
Lindiwe Desire Mazibuko is a South African writer, activist, and former politician. Between 2011 and 2014 she was the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa. She served in the National Assembly through the Fifth Parliament but resigned in May 2014.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Africa.
Mmusi Aloysias Maimane is a South African politician, businessman, and leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political party from 10 May 2015 to 23 October 2019, and the former Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from 29 May 2014 to 24 October 2019. He became the first black South African to lead the DA.
Agang South Africa is a South African political party, first announced by anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele on 18 February 2013, and founded on 22 June 2013, the date of the party's first official congress.
There have been pride parades in South Africa celebrating LGBT pride since 1990. South African pride parades were historically used for political advocacy protesting against legal discrimination against LGBT people, and for the celebration of equality before the law after the apartheid era. They are increasingly used for political advocacy against LGBT hate crimes, such as the so-called corrective rape of lesbians in townships, and to remember victims thereof.
The Democratic Alliance held its 6th Federal Congress in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape from 9 May to 10 May 2015. After incumbent leader Helen Zille announced she would not seek reelection, the Congress became focused on the contest to succeed her.
Not Without a Fight: The Autobiography is a 2016 autobiography by South African politician Helen Zille.
Alan Richard Winde is a South African politician and businessman. He is the 8th and current Premier of the Western Cape, having held the position since 2019. He has been a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since 1999 and belongs to the Democratic Alliance.
Bennet Mzwenqaba Bhanga, known as Nqaba Bhanga, is a South African politician. He is the former Leader of the Official Opposition in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature, the former Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape, a former Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, a former Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Human Settlements in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, a former member of Parliament, and the DA's former Shadow Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of African ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC, men who have sex with men, or related culturally specific identities. This timeline includes events both in Africa, the Americas and Europe and in the global African diaspora, as the histories are very deeply linked.
Nomafrench Mbombo is a South African academic and politician who has been a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since 2014, representing the Democratic Alliance. She previously served as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport from 2014 to 2015 and as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Health from 2015 until 2024. Mbombo was the Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance Women's Network from 2018 to 2021.
Michael John Cardo is a South African author and politician who served as the Shadow Minister of Employment and Labour from June 2019 until February 2024. He was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in May 2014. Between June 2015 and June 2019, he was the Shadow Minister of Economic Development. He resigned from Parliament effective on 31 January 2024. Cardo is a member of the Democratic Alliance.