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Joy Maimela

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The Honourable
Joy Maimela
MP
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 July 2024
MinisterSiviwe Gwarube
Preceded byBongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba
Member of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
14 June 2024
Personal details
Born
Khomotjo Joy Maimela

(1988-06-09) 9 June 1988 (age 36)
Skekhukhune, Transvaal
South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Alma materMopani South East College
University of South Africa

Khomotjo Joy Maimela (born 9 June 1988) is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly of South Africa since June 2024. She is the chairperson of the assembly's Portfolio Committee on Basic Education.

Born in Sekukhune, Limpopo, Maimela spent her early career as a mineworker. She rose to political prominence as the interim coordinator of the ANC Youth League between April 2021 and March 2023. During that period, in December 2022, she was elected to a five-year term on the ANC National Executive Committee. Thereafter she joined the National Assembly in the May 2024 general election.

Early life and career

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Born on 9 June 1988,[1] Maimela is from a village in Sekukhune in Limpopo Province (then the Northern Transvaal).[2] Her home language was Sepedi.[3] She matriculated in 2005 at the Graceland Education Centre.[3] After high school she pursued vocational postgraduate education, completing a certificate in civil engineering at the Mopani South East College, a TVET college in Mopani, Limpopo, in 2010.[3]

Between 2011 and 2017, Maimela worked as a chairlift operator at Glencore's Mototolo Mine, a platinum mine in Burgersfort, Limpopo.[3] She also resumed her education part-time, and in 2017 she graduated from the University of South Africa with a Bachelor of Arts in governance, administration and development.[3] Also in 2017 she was appointed as a non-executive director of the National Youth Development Agency.[3] Thereafter, in the first half of 2018, she worked for the State Security Agency as an analyst for the South African Early Warning Centre.[3]

Meanwhile, Maimela had become politically active at the age of 17, shortly after the end of apartheid, and had gone on to participate in the South African Students Congress, the Progressive Youth Alliance, and the Young Communist League.[2] She also joined the African National Congress (ANC) and the ANC Youth League,[2] and in September 2015 she was elected to the league's National Executive Committee.[4]

ANC Youth League coordinator: 2021–2023

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On 8 April 2021, Maimela was appointed as national coordinator of the National Youth Task Team (NYTT), a 35-member interim leadership corps which was mandated to lead the ANC Youth League until the league could hold new leadership elections.[5] She worked alongside Nonceba Mhlauli, who was appointed as convenor of the NYTT.

Maimela and Mhlauli's NYTT replaced a former task team, led by Tandi Mahambehlala as convenor and Sibongile Besani as coordinator, which had been appointed after Collen Maine's leadership corps was disbanded in 2019; Mahambehlala and Besani had been trying unsuccessfully since then to hold an elective conference.[6] In the weeks after her appointment, Maimela appeared to blame former league president Julius Malema for the disarray, saying that the league had "been plagued with financial challenges" since the tenure of Malema's leadership corps, which she said had been responsible for "gross financial mismanagement and grand scale looting" of the league.[7]

While serving in that role, she attended the mainstream ANC's 55th National Conference, held at Nasrec in December 2022. The conference elected her to a five-year term as a member of the National Executive Committee. By number of votes received, she was ranked 68th of the 80 ordinary members elected, receiving 1,058 votes across 4,029 ballots.[8] With Mhlauli and Zuko Godlimpi, she was one of three people under the age of 35 to gain election, and the Daily Maverick said that she was in pole position for elevation to government office.[2]

Meanwhile, Maimela's tenure as NYTT coordinator was controversial,[9] and the NYTT failed to arrange an elective conference for the Youth League. In March 2023, the ANC National Working Committee announced that Maimela and Mhlauli's NYTT would be disbanded and replaced by a new task team.[10] Maimela was replaced as coordinator by Sonto Motaung.[11]

National Assembly: 2024–present

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Ahead of the May 2024 general election, Mhlauli stood as an ANC candidate, ranked 33rd on the party's national list.[1] She was elected to a seat in the National Assembly,[12] and on 9 July 2024 she was elected as chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Final Candidate Lists for 2024 National and Provincial Elections: National Candidates" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 10 April 2024. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  2. ^ a b c d Njilo, Nonkululeko (2023-01-19). "New member Joy Maimela may rain on Ramaphosa's NEC parade". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Curriculum Vitae of Khomotjo Joy Maimela" (PDF). Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  4. ^ "ANCYL NEC". ANC Youth League. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  5. ^ Manaleng, Palesa (9 April 2021). "These are the 35 people tasked with reviving the ANC Youth League". EWN. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  6. ^ Amashabalala, Mawande (8 April 2021). "'Opportunity for a rebirth' as ANC Youth League task team announced". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Malema's past leadership blamed for ANCYL's troubles". The Sowetan. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  8. ^ "ANC NEC election results". Politicsweb. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  9. ^ Tandwa, Lizeka (2022-09-02). "ANC Youth League coordinator Joy Maimela accused of manipulating North West conference". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  10. ^ Madisa, Kgothatso (28 March 2023). "ANC to replace Nonceba Mhlauli and Joy Maimela on youth league task team". The Sowetan. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  11. ^ Feketha, Siviwe (2 April 2023). "ANC tries again to revive Youth League". City Press. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
  12. ^ "Khomotjo Joy Maimela". People's Assembly. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  13. ^ "Election of Chairperson". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. 9 July 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
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