Seiso Joel Mohai is a South African politician who is currently the Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). He was first elected to that position after the 2014 general election and he represents the African National Congress. He formerly served in both the National Assembly and the

Free State Provincial Legislature The Free State Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Free State. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the executive council from among the members of the leading party ...

, and he was a Member of the

Free State Executive Council The Executive Council of the Free State is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of the Free State. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of t ...

from 2004 to 2013.

Early life and activism

In the early 1980s, Mohai attended secondary school in Botshabelo, a township outside Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State. While a student, he became active in anti-apartheid politics, including through the Congress of South African Students and

South African Youth Congress The South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) was a pro-African National Congress youth organization, active in the struggle against Apartheid. The motto of SAYCO was "Victory is Certain - Freedom or Death". In 1990 SAYCO merged with the ANC Youth L ...

. He also helped established the Garment and Allied Workers' Union among textiles workers in the region. After the African National Congress (ANC) was unbanned in 1990, he was recruited to the leadership of the ANC Youth League in the Southern Free State region around Botshabelo. He was elected to the Youth League's National Executive Committee in 1998.

Career in government

Mohai represented the ANC during a brief stint in Parliament from 1999 to 2001 or 2002. Thereafter he returned to the Free State to serve as ANC

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

in the

. He held the whip until the 2004 general election, after which he was appointed to the

by Beatrice Marshoff, the newly elected Premier of the Free State; Marshoff made him Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Public Works, Roads and Transport. After the

next general election This is a list of the next general elections around the world in democratic polities. The general elections listed are for the government of each jurisdiction. These elections determine the Prime Minister and makeup of the legislature in a parli ...

in 2009, he was appointed MEC for Finance by Marshoff's successor, Premier Ace Magashule. However, in March 2013, Magashule fired Mohai from the Executive Council, replacing him with

Elzabe Rockman Elizabeth Cornelia "Elzabe" Rockman (born 20 April 1967) is a South African African National Congress politician who served as the Member of the Executive Council for Finance during the premierships of Ace Magashule and Sisi Ntombela. She was f ...

. He said that Mohai was a "very strong leader" and that the ANC had decided to " redeploy" him to the national Parliament. Mohai rejoined the National Assembly on 26 March 2013, filling a casual vacancy. He served in that seat until the 2014 general election, when he was elected to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the upper house of the Parliament, and appointed the ANC's Chief Whip in the NCOP. He was re-elected both to his NCOP seat and to the whip's office after the 2019 general election. In January 2023, he was one of three candidates nominated by the ANC for election as Mayor of Mangaung.

References

External link

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohai, Seiso Living people Year of birth missing (living people) African National Congress politicians Members of the National Council of Provinces Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature