New generation of leaders reshapes the future of South African politics

A welcome shift in South Africa’s political landscape is that politics is no longer a craft only for those near or of retirement age. Instead, the post-2021 shift in political representation and the induction of the Government of National Unity (GNU) have seen a generational shift in government, in Parliament and metro governments.

Young people are playing important roles and often doing so with a gusto and agency we haven’t seen in decades. It is as profound a change as that of 1994, when new MPs of all hues and genders replaced the all-white National Assembly and governing ranks of apartheid.

We profile this new political culture with a look at 15 young politicians who have caught our eye at Daily Maverick.

MINISTERS

Dean Macpherson — The Workhorse

At 41, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson is among the youngest Cabinet members. From Durban, he is a protégé of outgoing DA party leader John Steenhuisen. Public Works is not a sexy portfolio, but he has been a workhorse since being appointed to the role as part of negotiations for the GNU.

“We build, we maintain, we manage public assets. We turn plans into bricks, pipes, cables, roofs, classrooms, clinics, police stations and offices that work,” said Macpherson on 6 February, addressing the National Press Club in Cape Town before delivering the most excoriating exposé of why the state does not work. He blew the whistle on why government property leases are often at the heart of corruption, how the investigation into the R800-million oxygen tank leasing scandal had been obstructed and how difficult it has been for him to crack down on the construction mafia.

Across the country, local business forums enter private or public construction sites and demand a cut under the guise of local empowerment, but, in reality, they’re a mass extortion scheme. Macpherson has been an energetic anti-corruption figure. The final years of his term will see a shift to a massive infrastructure budget.

Siviwe Gwarube — The Educator

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube (36) has emerged as a dynamic leader who has brought much-needed optimism to a troubled school system. She is South Africa’s youngest-ever Cabinet minister. She rose to prominence through the DA’s ranks and was previously spokesperson for former DA leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, the DA’s director of communications and the party’s health spokesperson.

In her position as Basic Education Minister, she has made early childhood development (ECD) a priority, with a special focus on foundational literacy and numeracy. Last month, Gwarube also announced South Africa’s highest-ever National Senior Certificate (NSC) pass rate of 88%, with all 75 school districts exceeding 80% for the first time.

Her renewed focus on ECD and the historic matric pass rate are her obvious gains, but she has also been successful in launching Phase 5 of the Basic Education Employment Initiative, which placed 200,000 young people in schools.

However, Gwarube continues to face persistent challenges in the sector. She missed her self-imposed deadline of eradicating pit toilets by March 2025, although repairing deteriorating infrastructure remains high on her agenda.

In addition, her strategy of teaming up with the private sector has sparked criticism after McDonald’s-branded desks raised concerns over the marketing of junk food.

Leon Schreiber — The Digitiser

Dr Leon Schreiber (37) has helped transform the beleaguered Department of “Hell Affairs” to Home Affairs in the 18 months since he took office. Before his appointment to the Cabinet in July 2024, he served as the DA’s shadow minister of public service and administration from May 2019. There, he rose to prominence for his drive against cadre deployment.

Last month, Schreiber announced the Department of Home Affairs had issued a record four million smart ID cards in 2025, “the highest rate of delivery in the history of the department”. This represents an increase of 17% from the number of smart IDs issued the previous year. (It is also about 1.3 million more than the number of smart IDs issued in both 2022 and 2023.)

The accelerated roll-out of smart IDs forms part of the department’s medium-term development plan, and the milestone reflects progress in Schreiber’s digital transformation agenda. However, Home Affairs has fallen short of its broader internal digitisation target for 2024/2025, in which it digitised 12.1 million records, against its target of 14.8 million.

Schreiber has also made some strides in cleaning up corruption in his department and tackling network issues, but he still faces challenges in eradicating the backlog of immigration applications.

Ronald Lamola — The Diplomat

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola (42) has led South Africa’s international relations in a polarised world of global turmoil.

Before his appointment in July 2024, Lamola served as justice and correctional services minister. He has risen through the ranks of the ANC, after joining the ANC Youth League at 13, and is a member of both its National Executive Committee and National Working Committee.

Lamola, together with President Cyril Ramaphosa, led a successful Group of 20 (G20) presidency — the first on African soil — which saw the passing of a Leaders’ Declaration at the Johannesburg Summit in November 2025. This was achieved during a year in which South Africa had to fend off unprecedented attacks from US President Donald Trump about everything from its G20 priorities to its affirmative action and land redistribution policies. Trump’s eventual G20 stayaway, however, ended up being a net positive for SA and the middle power bloc.

Lamola is also known for leading SA’s legal team to The Hague in January 2024 to argue before the International Court of Justice that Israel violated the Genocide Convention in its military action in Gaza. South Africa’s genocide case is continuing before the court.

However, Lamola and his department have received sharp criticism from some political parties in the GNU for “monopolising” SA’s foreign policy.

Zuko Godlimpi — The Economic Influencer

Zuko Godlimpi (33) has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of the ANC. He is now the party’s most powerful economic influencer as chairperson of its Economic and Transformation Committee.

Combined with his role as deputy minister of trade, industry and competition, he helps shape economic and trade policy. He worked in the department before taking up a role in the City of Ekurhuleni, followed by positions at the Gauteng legislature and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

He is a seasoned ANC politician who has joined the executive as part of Ramaphosa’s commitment to bringing ANC Youth League leaders into the state.

Godlimpi has pushed for anti-dumping duties on fully built-up cars because the automotive industry is suffering as South Africans buy cars made in India and China. He has also played an important role in trade negotiations with the US and lobbied for energy-intensive industries.

He is a key driver behind the planned Transformation Fund. The fund, partially capitalised with a loan from the African Export-Import Bank, of which SA has just become a partner, has few friends in opposition parties or established business.

He is passionate about diversifying SA trade and, at the weekend, was part of the delegation that signed an important trade agreement with China.

Ashor Sarupen — The Pragmatic Reformer

Ashor Sarupen (37) is one of the youngest deputy ministers in the current administration and part of a new generation of leaders shaping the GNU. Soft-spoken, pragmatic and clear-eyed, he has consistently spoken out about the urgent need for structural reform of the country's economy.

He has played a central role in overseeing Operation Vulindlela, an initiative widely praised for supporting government departments in implementing reforms in key sectors such as energy, water and telecommunications.

Sarupen is a real polymath with big ideas. He believes that introducing genuine competition into electricity generation, ports and railways is essential to unlocking growth in an economy that has long stagnated.

He’s now a deputy chairperson of the DA’s Federal Council, but his political journey began in 2011 in Ekurhuleni, where he served as the party’s chief whip. He later moved to the Gauteng legislature, serving from 2014 to 2019, before becoming an MP and the DA’s shadow minister for the Appropriations Committee in 2019.

Sarupen has repeatedly warned that South Africa can only escape its cycle of stagnation and poverty with sustained growth of 4% to 5% a year.

He has been realistic about the government being too indebted to spend its way out of the crisis, with a significant portion of every tax rand going towards interest payments. For Sarupen, tackling structural failures is not just policy — it is the path to a more prosperous and inclusive future for the country.

MAYORS

Geordin Hill-Lewis — The Leading Contender

The 39-year-old mayor of Cape Town is probably one of South Africa’s best young political leaders. He has worn the chain for five years and, in that time, Cape Town has grown in size and in tourist numbers.

The region has evolved into a hub of global significance, renowned not only for its stunning natural beauty but also for the booming Western Cape economy, driven by agricultural exports, investments in business process outsourcing, and numerous other sectors.

Hill-Lewis is a new-generation politician born into the social media age, and with his team, he works it well. Every day, at least three or four press releases highlight new developments, infusing a vibrant energy into his administration.

Hill-Lewis, likely to run for outgoing DA leader John Steenhuisen’s role, also has big city problems to deal with. There is a rising rebellion of ordinary people in Cape Town who can no longer afford their rates bills. There is opposition to the rapid gentrification of the city, as well as its occupation by digital nomads.

It will be interesting to see how he balances running for party leader (he will be the frontrunner if he announces his candidacy) while also ensuring that Cape Town does not become like Barcelona and other cities where locals are in near-permanent rebellion against over-tourism and sky-high living costs.

Nasiphi Moya — The Academic

Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya (38) has captured the hearts of many South Africans, partly with her responsiveness on the social media platform X, where she engages directly with complaints about potholes, faulty streetlights and other local issues. She is often on the ground, unafraid of getting her hands dirty.

In operations ranging from shutting off electricity to non-paying customers to closing illegal brothels, Moya leads from the front. Elected mayor in October 2024, she inherited a city struggling to pay its creditors, including an Eskom debt exceeding R6-billion, of which R2-billion has been settled.

With a PhD in political science and an MA in philosophy, she has been praised for her leadership even by political opponents. Her administration faces continuing challenges. The Auditor-General has criticised Tshwane for underperformance, calling on the municipality to tighten internal controls and enforce consequence management to secure a clean audit.

For the third year in a row, the metro received a qualified audit opinion, indicating that while its financial statements are mostly accurate, material errors remain. The water crisis in Hammanskraal, which Moya vowed to resolve, is still only partly solved, with some residents lacking clean water. Even so, she made a symbolic gesture of leadership by being the first to drink the water after a decade of shortages.

MPs

Mdumiseni Ntuli — The Chief Whip

At 46, Mdumiseni Ntuli is already a trusted voice in the ANC, where he learnt his political chops. From KwaZulu-Natal, this measured politician is now party chief whip, running a caucus more disciplined and considered than we have seen in years. This is both because the ANC has been chastened by its electoral loss in 2024 and because of his skill.

Ntuli was ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary and also took a run at the party’s secretary-general job in 2022 but lost to the incumbent, Fikile Mbalula. He is cut from the cloth of the ANC’s scholarly tradition and studied law and political science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His speeches and style are old-style ANC, using debate and lengthy reasoning rather than the choppy populism that is the growing culture of political debate.

Ntuli has also been the ANC’s head of elections and campaigns, which may not look that good on your CV these days, but was when the party was winning.

Sibonelo Nomvalo — The Interrogator

uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party MP Sibonelo Nomvalo has emerged as one of Parliament’s most compelling young voices, unafraid to hold those in power to account. Nomvalo (37) entered Parliament in 2024 and has already made a mark that many veteran parliamentarians have not been able to.

Hailing from the small town of Umzimkhulu in KwaZulu-Natal, Nomvalo is an attorney by profession. He serves on several parliamentary committees, including justice and constitutional development, the constitutional review committee, and the ad hoc committee investigating allegations made by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

He has earned a reputation as a tough interrogator who pays attention to detail. He has challenged former police minister Bheki Cele over inconsistencies in his testimony at the ad hoc committee, pressed for clarity and accountability on allegations of corruption in the justice system, and pushed former National Prosecuting Authority boss Shamila Batohi to be transparent about officials implicated in wrongdoing.

What sets Nomvalo apart is not only the questions he asks but the confidence with which he asks them. Before entering Parliament, Nomvalo rose through youth politics, most notably serving as the ANC Youth League’s KZN spokesperson in 2022.

Although he appears to be on a promising path, it is no secret that he comes from a political party whose credibility and internal dynamics are increasingly being questioned.

Makashule Gana — The Crusader

Rise Mzansi’s parliamentary whip, Makashule Gana (42), is regarded as one of the country’s top young politicians, particularly for being the most vocal opposition to South Africa’s booming online gambling industry.

During the 2024/2025 financial year, total gambling turnover reached R1.5-trillion in SA, according to data from the National Gambling Board. In an October 2025 debate, sponsored by Rise Mzansi in Parliament, Gana described gambling as a “quiet but destructive epidemic” that is ripping through communities.

He warned that gambling addiction has become a national public health and social crisis — so much so that South Africans have even begun using social grants and National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funds to sponsor their gambling addictions.

Gana has proposed that funding for the SA Responsible Gambling Foundation be increased from 0.1% of gambling companies’ gross revenues to 1%. He has also proposed advertising bans and increased gambling taxes, among other things, to tackle the country’s gambling crisis.

Gana was appointed Rise Mzansi’s national organiser in April 2023, when the party was formed. The party won two seats in the National Assembly in the 2024 national election, and Gana has since served as an MP and a member of various portfolio committees in Parliament. He was formerly a well-respected member of the DA and an MP for that party. He resigned from the DA in August 2022 after 20 years of service in the party.

Ashley Sauls — The Pastor Parliamentarian

Former Beaufort West mayor Ashley Sauls (42) has become popular at hearings of the parliamentary ad hoc committee into the claims of capture in the law enforcement cluster. During the hearings, alongside heavyweights like Julius Malema and Glynnis Breytenbach, his approach of a non-confrontational yet firm questioning of witnesses has garnered attention.

He’s also courted controversy for his outfit choices and labelling witnesses as “heroes” and thanking some for “their service” before the committee has made any findings.

Sauls, the Patriotic Alliance leader in Parliament, has brought several issues to the parliamentary floor, including the plight of gang-afflicted communities and the recognition of Khoi-San traditional leaders. In 2025, he was part of a group of MPs who went on a trip to Israel, where they found no claim of apartheid practices in the midst of an unfolding genocide.

Before joining Parliament, he resigned as mayor of Beaufort West after controversy surrounding his proposal to rename the town to “Dubai West”. He’s one of three of the PA’s 10 MPs who have not been shifted out of Parliament since entering it in June 2024.

Sihle Lonzi — The Students’ Voice

In 2025, EFF MP Sihle Lonzi (28) trended on social media after he was bounced out of a parliamentary higher education oversight committee when he repeatedly raised questions about then Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane’s list of appointments of chairpersons of various Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) boards.

The problem? Some of the chairpersons were linked to the ANC, Nkabane’s political home. They included Buyambo Mantashe, the son of Minister Gwede Mantashe.

Lonzi, a former EFF Student Command leader, has made waves in Parliament since joining it in November 2024. He’s launched a Private Members’ Bill to cancel historical student debt and has been at the forefront of his party’s attempt to block plans to amend the National Credit Act, which have raised fears among students who have NSFAS debt that they could be blacklisted.

Karabo Khakhau — The Spokesperson

DA MP and party spokesperson Karabo Khakhau (28) has been one MP who has truly shown the power of her office: holding ministers accountable for their actions.

From the Free State, Khakhau is in her second stint in Parliament after joining it in 2022. When Nkabane made the Seta chairperson appointments in 2025, Khakhau, like Lonzi, raised questions about their links to the ANC.

Eventually, the scandal surrounding Nkabane became too much, with the DA threatening not to support her department’s budget, and in June 2025, she was fired. She was replaced by her deputy, Buti Manamela, who has also faced tough questions from Khakhau.

On the party front, Khakhau was front and centre during the 2025 Budget crisis, communicating the party’s position. She has emerged as a strong and clear voice about processes and accountability within Parliament, whether it is about her party’s positions on key issues such as the Budget or within the higher education committee.

Liam Jacobs — The Influencer

The year 2025 was a big one for Liam Jacobs. He went from being a DA MP holding Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, the PA leader, accountable to joining McKenzie’s party on Youth Day.

He’s one of the most talked-about and followed South African politicians on social media, with 500,000 followers and six million likes on TikTok. In 2025, he used this platform to show how he held ministers and officials accountable, which was questioned within and outside the DA – was it political posturing?

He was also part of a group of MPs who went to Israel and found no claims of apartheid in the midst of an unfolding genocide. On 16 June 2025, Jacobs joined the PA, claiming in a late-night announcement that it was because of a lack of “coloured” representatives in the DA’s contingent of ministers and deputy ministers.

He is now the PA’s Youth League president and mayoral candidate for Tshwane. In July, he spent a few weeks on the Johannesburg City Council after PA deputy leader Kenny Kunene was suspended. In late 2025, he joined the Cape Town council and is gaining traction for his social media posts about housing costs in Cape Town. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.