Zakhele Mbhele

Zakhele Mbhele (born 09 November 1984) is a South African politician. A Member of Parliament of the Democratic Alliance in the National Assembly, Mbhele served as Media Liaison Officer for Western Cape Premier Helen Zille from November 2011 to May 2014.[1] In the 2014 general election, Mbhele was elected to parliament.

Personal life and education

Mbhele is openly gay, making him the first openly-gay Black member of parliament.[2][3][4] He is one of a number of openly-LGBT members of parliament, alongside fellow DA MPs Mike Waters and Ian Ollis. While attending University of Witwatersrand, he led ACTIVATE, the university’s LGBT campus group,[5] and later served on the board of Joburg Pride. He was cited by the Mail & Guardian as one of "Top 200 Young South Africans" for his Civil Society work in 2010.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Media Alert: New Spokesperson in Premier Helen Zille's Office | Western Cape Government". Westerncape.gov.za. 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  2. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: MEET AFRICA'S FIRST OPENLY-GAY BLACK MP - MambaOnline - Gay South Africa online". MambaOnline. 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  3. ↑ "Africa elects its first openly gay black MP · PinkNews". Pinknews.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  4. ↑ Reynolds, Andrew (2014-05-21). "Harvey Milk’s legacy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  5. ↑ "My Life : Zak Mbhele". Mambaonline.com. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  6. ↑ "200 Young South Africans: Civil Society | News | Mail & Guardian". Mg.co.za. 2010-06-14. Retrieved 2015-03-04.