Mpho Lekgoro
South African politician
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Mpho Morepye Sephwe Lekgoro (born 1964 or 1965) is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2007. He was formerly an ANC Youth League activist.
Mpho Lekgoro | |
|---|---|
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office June 1999 – 1 August 2007 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1964 or 1965 (age 61–62) |
| Citizenship | South Africa |
| Party | African National Congress |
Anti-apartheid activism
Lekgoro was born in 1964 or 1965.[1] He was a member of the United Democratic Front and South African Youth Congress in the 1980s and was detained for his anti-apartheid activism.[1] He made international news in March 1989, aged 24, when he and three other young detainees escaped police custody and took refuge in the West German Embassy in Pretoria; they escaped from Hillbrow Hospital, where they had been receiving treatment for starvation after participating in a nationwide hunger strike by political detainees.[1] The West German Embassy allowed them to stay.[2] From 1994 to 1996, he was secretary-general of the ANC Youth League under league president Lulu Johnson, with Febe Potgieter as his deputy.[3][4]
Parliament: 1999–2007
Lekgoro served in the post-apartheid Parliament of South Africa from 1999 to 2007, gaining election to the National Assembly in 1999[5] and 2004.[6] During his second term he served as spokesperson for the ANC's parliamentary caucus.[7] He resigned from Parliament on 1 August 2007[8] and was replaced as spokesperson by Khotso Khumalo.[9]