Thembha is standing for the DA Mpumalanga deputy chairman position
The DA in Mpumalanga will be hosting its elective conference on 3 March at Graceland Casino and Country Club.
Mr Thembha Mlotshwa is passionate about his political career, however he remains dedicated to his family and work.
He is married to Ms Martha Skosana, is the father of three children and is currently employed as an electrician at Sasol.
He was born on 14 November 1974 in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal and is the oldest of his siblings.
Mr Mlotshwa lost his father in 1980 when he was only six years old and that same year went to Sikhona Primary School.
He was raised by his mother, Ms Esther Mnguni, and life was not easy for the family.
They moved to Vriesgewagt in the former homeland of KwaNdebele where he was a learner at the Thuthukani Combined School.
Mr Mlotshwa enjoyed going to school and said the environment was good for learning and the teachers were strict, but that it helped him to work harder.
He said in 1986 violence broke out between the Imbokodo Party, led by the then Prime Minister of Kwandebele, and the underground operatives of the ANC.
“We were forced out of school to go and fight heavily armed Imbokodo members, who were assisted by the then SADF.
“The ANC wanted to render that homeland ungovernable. I was about 12 years old and we were shot at, teargassed, and some of the people were either killed or arrested.
“That was the first time that I had seen a person being killed with a burning tyre.”
In the late 80s, Mr Mlotshwa’s family relocated to eMbalenhle.
On arrival Mr Mlotshwa struggled to be accepted at any school in the area, because his mother could not produce the required permit.
His siblings were registered under someone else’s permit, but Mr Mlotshwa lost about two years of schooling.
He was eventually enrolled at Thorisong Primary School, which is mainly a Sesotho-oriented school.
“That was the most difficult time of my life as I had to learn a new language, not only to speak it, but to read and write it as well.
“The learners accepted me, as did some of the teachers, but the principal was not very nice .
“She made it very clear that I was not welcome at her school.
“I pushed myself to learn fast. In those days there was a book reading competition, the Sasol Kalula Reading Competition.
“I entered the competition and became the champion and I came second the following year.
“That was the start of my passion for reading.”
Mr Mlotshwa can recall 1990 when Mr Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
He said he believed real change and transformation began that year.
Mr Mlotshwa was not a political fanatic at that time, because he was still traumatised by what had happened in KwaNdebele.
He occasionally attended ANC rallies that were often held at the eMbalenhle Stadium.
He said black South Africans saw the ANC as the country’s saviour from the oppressors, but he does not think so anymore.
“I remember one day in 1993, we were sitting with my aunts when the so-called “comrades” arrived.
“The eMbalenhle Stadium was not filling up the way they wanted it to, and they came to the houses to force people to attend.
“My aunt was drinking a cooldrink when they kicked her drink and dragged her out of the yard and to the stadium.
“I offered to go in her place, but our pleas fell on deaf ears.
“That day I took a conscious decision that I could not align myself with ruffians.
“I come from a family that teaches respect for the elderly, but those young people failed to live by that teaching.”
Mr Mlotshwa searched for a political party that he could belong to in 1994.
He said options were minimal as Inkatha Freedom Party was at war with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal and the Pan African Congress of Azania’s policies were “nonsensical and divisive”.
“One day I met an activist of the Democratic Party who was canvassing in Evander and I was taken in by their policies and their vision of a non violent South Africa.
“They advocated a place where we could all live harmoniously with each other and I was hooked and joined the party.
“That was the vision I also wanted to see happening in our country. The 1994 elections came and the Democratic Party did not do well against the ANC, with Mandela at the helm, and no one was surprised at the support they got.”
Mr Mlotshswa was nominated to stand as a provincial candidate for the Democratic Party in Mpumalanga in 1999 and he was elected as a provincial leader for the party, a position he held until year 2000.
He was among the DP executive members who were negotiating the amalgamation of the Democratic Party with the New National Party (NNP) in Mpumalanga.
Mr Mlotshwa is also a founding member of the Democratic Alliance in Govan Mbeki Municipal area.
He was nominated to be on the PR list of the DA in 2000 and the party got a few seats on the Govan Mbeki Municipal Council which was then called the Highveld East Municipal Council.
He was elected as a DA Provincial Leader in 2001, a position he held for two years.
Mr Mlotshwa was the deputy chairman of the Democratic Alliance Govan Mbeki constituency and was deployed to serve on the Gert Sibande District Council in 2011, where he is currently.
This year he is standing for the deputy chairman position.
The DA in Mpumalanga will be hosting its elective conference on 3 March at Graceland Casino and Country Club.
