Kevin John Mileham (born 23 April 1971) is a South African politician, a Member of the South African Parliament for the Democratic Alliance and the Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. Mileham was first elected to Parliament on 3 June 2013, replacing

Athol Trollip Roland Athol Price Trollip (born 12 March 1964) is a South African politician and provincial chairman of ActionSA in the Eastern Cape. He currently serves as the Parliamentary Leader of ActionSA in the National Assembly. He was previously a me ...

. His first parliamentary role was as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development. After the 2014 National Elections, he was appointed the Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In February 2019, he was appointed as Shadow Minister of Energy. After the National and Provincial Elections on 8 May 2019, Mileham was appointed as Shadow Minister of the expanded portfolio of Mineral Resources and Energy. Mileham was re-elected to Parliament in 2024.

Background

Mileham matriculated with academic honours from

Selborne College Selborne College is a semi-private English medium male-only school situated in the suburb of Selborne and Belgravia (the suburb was named after the school) of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; it is one of the few colle ...

in East London in 1988 and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce (Legal) degree from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

. He continued his studies to obtain a post-graduate Diploma in Advertising and Marketing from AAA School of Advertising. Post studies, he commenced work for The Jupiter Drawing Room, a South African advertising agency, handling brands such as Coca-Cola and

5FM 5FM is a South African FM radio station forming part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa's public broadcaster. 5FM follows a Top 40 music format aimed at a youth market, together with news and sports coverage. ...

. In 1996, he was employed by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

to launch the

Powerade Powerade is a sports drink created in 1988 and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, which is owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Powerade was created by the Coca-Cola Company and first released in 1988. Th ...

sports drink in South Africa. In 1998 he joined

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

South Africa as a marketing manager, initially only covering consumer products, but later promoted to include all desktop applications (including Microsoft Office and Windows) for both the consumer and business sectors. In 2001, he relocated to the Eastern Cape, where he founded his own marketing and management consultancy business, Forward Momentum. Mileham has two children from his first marriage to Laura Guest. He married fellow Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament,

Natasha Mazzone Natasha Wendy Anita Mazzone (born 9 May 1979) is a South African politician who served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from October 2019 until August 2022. She has been a Member of the Nati ...

in July 2017.

Politics

Mileham was actively involved in party politics for the former Democratic Party as a party agent and activist during the 1994 and 1999 elections. In 2003, he became actively involved in local politics. He joined the Democratic Alliance in Port Alfred ( Ndlambe Local Municipality) where he was soon appointed constituency chairperson. In 2006, he was elected to the Ndlambe municipal council, and appointed as the party's Chief Whip and finance spokesperson. In 2007, Mileham was selected to be part of the first class of Democratic Alliance's Young Leaders Programme. In 2009, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. In 2011, he was elected as a municipal councillor to the

Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality situated on the east coast of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It includes the towns of East London, Bhisho and Qonce, as well as the large townships of Md ...

, and was appointed as the DA's Chief Whip. In 2013, following the death of Pine Pienaar, a member of the

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Eastern Cape. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading pa ...

, the DA's provincial leader

elected to return to the province following his reelection defeat to

Lindiwe Mazibuko Lindiwe Desire Mazibuko (born 9 April 1980) is a South African writer, activist, and former politician. Between 2011 and 2014 she was the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Leader of ...

for the position of DA Parliamentary Leader. The DA selected Mileham to fill the seat. Mazibuko appointed him Shadow Deputy Minister for Land Reform and Rural Development. After his re-election in 2014, Mileham was appointed the Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs by the new Leader of the Opposition,

Mmusi Maimane Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) 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, South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (So ...

. During tenure as Shadow Minister of COGTA, Mileham laid criminal charges against people involved in the

VBS Mutual Bank VBS Mutual Bank was a South African mutual bank. In 2018 it was declared insolvent and bankrupt and placed under curatorship, with South African citizens and taxpayers defrauded out of roughly R2 billion. It was formed as Venda Building S ...

scandal. In February 2019, he was appointed as Shadow Minister of Energy. He held this position until June 2019, when Maimane appointed him as Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. On 21 June 2021, Mileham became a member of the

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry The Committee for Section 194 Enquiry is an ad hoc committee of the National Assembly of South Africa that was established on 7 April 2021 to determine if there are grounds for the removal of Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector. Backgr ...

which was established to determine Advocate

Busisiwe Mkhwebane Busisiwe Mkhwebane is a South African advocate and prosecutor served as the 4th Public Protector of South Africa from October 2016 until her impeachment in September 2023. Following her impeachment, she served as a Member of the National Assem ...

's fitness to hold office as

Public Protector The Public Protector in South Africa is one of six independent state institutions set up by the country's Constitution to support and defend democracy. According to Section 181 of the Constitution: * These institutions are independent, and subj ...

. Mileham was re-elected to Parliament in 2024.

References

External links

People's Assembly profile

Profile
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mileham, Kevin Living people 1971 births Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029 Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Alumni of Selborne College University of the Witwatersrand alumni Politicians from the Western Cape Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2019–2024 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2009–2014 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2014–2019