Mario Masher
South African politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mario George Masher (died 26 November 2020) was a South African politician from the Western Cape. He represented the National Party (NP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999, when he defected to the African National Congress (ANC). A teacher by profession, he formerly represented the Labour Party in the Tricameral Parliament. After joining the ANC, he was appointed South African Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macau.
- African National Congress (after 1999)
- New National Party (1997–99)
- National Party (1994–97)
- Labour Party (before 1994)
Mario Masher | |
|---|---|
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office May 1994 – June 1999 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1948/1949 |
| Died | 26 November 2020 (aged 71) |
| Party |
|
Early life and career
Masher was born in 1948 or 1949 in George in the former Cape Province; he was the eldest of several siblings.[1] He was a teacher by profession and from 1980 to 1986[2] he served as an independent local councillor in the now-defunct Pacaltsdorp Municipality.[1]
Legislative career: 1988–1999
Masher served in the Coloured chamber of the apartheid-era Tricameral Parliament from 1988,[2] representing the Labour Party.[1] In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Masher was elected to represent the NP in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament.[3] He served as a party whip for the NP (later restyled as the New National Party).[4]
In April 1999, ahead of the 1999 general election, Masher announced that he was resigning from the NP to join the ruling ANC.[4][5] He said that he was leaving the NP because the party and the Western Cape provincial government were being hijacked by right-wingers and P. W. Botha acolytes.[6]
Later career
Masher was not re-elected to Parliament in 1999 but instead became a director in the Department of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2003.[2] He was subsequently appointed as South African Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macau.[1][2]
In 2016, he joined the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI; Concerned Local Residents), a minor political party based in George, and became its candidate for election as a councillor in George Local Municipality in the 2016 local elections.[1] Although PBI won the seat, another candidate was sworn into the council.[7] Masher died on 26 November 2020 of a heart attack, aged 71.[1]