Seiso Joel Mohai (born 8 November 1966) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n politician from the Free State. A member of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

, he has been the Deputy Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation since 3 July 2024. Before that, he was the Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the post-apartheid constitution of South Africa, constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate of South Africa# ...

(NCOP) between 2014 and 2024. Before joining the NCOP in the 2014 general election, Mohai served stints in both the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

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 of the Free State, who in turn selects the members of the Executive ...

, and he was a Member of the Free State Executive Council from 2004 to 2013.

Early life and activism

Mohai was born on 8 November 1966. In the early 1980s, he attended secondary school in

Botshabelo Botshabelo, meaning "a place of refuge", is a large Township (South Africa), township set up in 1979. It is located east of Bloemfontein in the present-day Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa. Botshabelo is no ...

, a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

outside

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

. While a student, he became active in anti-apartheid politics, including through the Congress of South African Students and South African Youth Congress. He also helped establish the Garment and Allied Workers' Union among textiles workers in the region. After the

(ANC) was unbanned in 1990, he was recruited to the leadership of the

ANC Youth League The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (N ...

in the Southern Free State region around Botshabelo. He was elected to the Youth League's National Executive Committee in 1998.

Career in government

In the 1999 general election, Mohai was elected to an ANC seat in the

, representing the Free State constituency, but he left midway through the legislative term on 28 June 2001; his seat was filled by Butana Komphela. 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 I ...

in the

. He held the whip until the 2004 general election, after which he was appointed to the Free State Executive Council by Beatrice Marshoff, the newly elected

Premier of the Free State The premier of the Free State is the head of government of the Free State province of South Africa. The current premier of the Free State is Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae, who was elected on 14 June 2024. She is a member of the African National Cong ...

; Marshoff made him

Member of the Executive Council In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...

(MEC) for Public Works, Roads and Transport. After the next general election in 2009, he was appointed MEC for Finance by Marshoff's successor, Premier

Ace Magashule Elias Sekgobelo "Ace" Magashule (born 3 November 1959) is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who served as the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's governing party, between December ...

. However, in March 2013, Magashule fired Mohai from the Executive Council, replacing him with Elzabe Rockman. 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

on 26 March 2013, filling a

casual vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. It was Rowling's first publication since the ''Harry Potter'' series, her first novel apart fr ...

. He served in that seat until the 2014 general election, when he was elected to the

(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 links

*
Mr Seiso Joel Mohai
at Parliament of South Africa {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohai, Seiso 1966 births Living people South African Sotho people African National Congress politicians Members of the National Council of Provinces Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2009–2014 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029