Marius "Manqoba" Redelinghuys is a South African politician and a Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

for the Democratic Alliance (DA). He was first elected to the National Assembly on 7 May following the 2014 national elections. For a year he had also been one of two DA National Spokespersons He is also a former chairperson of the

Mandela Rhodes Community Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

, an alumni network for the

Mandela Rhodes Scholarship A Mandela Rhodes Scholarship provides full funding for up to a maximum of two years of postgraduate study for an African citizen under 30 years of age. The award is open to all African citizens under the age of 30 years and recipients must study t ...

Early life and education

Redelinghuys was born in 1987 in Middelburg in what was then known as the

Transvaal Province The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...

. He matriculated with distinction in 2005 at Hoërskool Brits in

Brits, North West Brits () is a town situated in a fertile citrus, vegetable and grain-producing area that is irrigated by the waters of the Hartbeespoort Dam in North West Province of South Africa. It is close to the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipalit ...

. Redelinghuys obtained a BPolSci (Political Science) degree with distinction from the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

in 2008. He was awarded a

in 2009 to complete his BA (Hons) Political Studies degree, which obtained in the same year, also with distinction. In 2022, Redelinghuys was conferred an LLB from the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

with distinction and was awarded the Dean's Medal.

Early career

At first Redelinghuys pursued a career in academia, tutoring at the

and later lecturing at the

Midrand Graduate Institute The Eduvos - Midrand (formerly Pearson Institute of Higher Education And Midrand Graduate Institute) is a South African private higher education institution based in Midrand, Gauteng Province. It offers bachelor's degrees in commerce, informati ...

Midrand Midrand is a former municipality in central Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated in-between Centurion and Sandton and now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History Midrand was established as a municipality in 198 ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. At this time, Redelinghuys was also actively involved in the Congress of the People in various roles, and was ultimately appointed as the National Spokesperson for its Youth Movement. In October 2011, following his resignation from COPE, he took up the position of Parliamentary Research and Communications Officer for the Democratic Alliance in Cape Town, specifically working on the Security Cluster, which included the Ministries of Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, State Security, Defence and Military Veterans, and Correctional Services. Eight months later, Redelinghuys was appointed the Director of Communications and Research for the DA in the

Gauteng Provincial Legislature The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 73 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the sixth, was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African N ...

, a position that he held for approximately two years until his election to Parliament in May 2014.

Political career

Redelinghuys first became involved in party politics during the 2006 local government elections and was actively involved in student politics while still at university, serving as a Member of the Student Parliament in 2009 In the 2011 local government elections he unsuccessfully stood as a Congress of the People candidate for

City of Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) () is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa. The Metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pr ...

ward 65, which is located in

Centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 le ...

and mainly covers

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

. Redelinghuys stood as a DA parliamentary candidate from Gauteng in the 2014 national elections, and was subsequently elected to the National Assembly and sworn in on 21 May 2014. On 30 May 2014, DA Federal Executive Chairperson

James Selfe James Selfe (born 23 August 1955) is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), and the party's former Federal Council Chairperson. He is also the party's Shadow Minister of Correctional Serv ...

announced that he was appointed, along with fellow Member of Parliament

Phumzile van Damme Phumzile Van Damme (born 20 July 1983) is a South African consultant and former Member of Parliament representing South Africa’s official opposition, the Democratic Alliance described by the United Nation’s Africa Renewal as a “Young MP w ...

, as one of two National Spokespersons for the party following the election of National Spokesperson

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's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political p ...

as Parliamentary Leader. According to Selfe, "the appointment of two national spokespeople was deemed necessary in light of the growth of the DA in the 7 May general elections and the increased need to reach a broader spectrum of South African society". On 8 December 2014, Redelinghuys posted an article on his Facebook page under the heading "Blacks are right to mistrust whites". On 28 June 2015, a politician of the

Freedom Front Plus The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus; af, Vryheidsfront Plus, ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald. Its current stated policy positions include a ...

picked up on this and posted it on his own Facebook page. This he followed up on 3 July 2015 with a question via a tweet to the DA leadership regarding their position on Redelinghuys' views. After numerous retweets, the DA leader Mmusi Maimane appointed a new second national spokesperson in Refiloe Ntsekhe to take over from Redelinghuys.

Personal life

In November 2014 Redelinghuys married Steven Hussey, a fellow Mandela Rhodes Scholar, and currently lives in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

References

Offices held

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Redelinghuys, Marius LGBT politicians from South Africa Living people Afrikaner people Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1987 births Gay politicians University of Pretoria alumni LGBT legislators