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Mathabo Leeto
MPL
Member of the Free State Executive Council for Social Development
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 June 2024
PremierMaqueen Letsoha-Mathae
Preceded byMotshidisi Koloi
Member of the Free State Executive Council for Health
In office
14 March 2023 – 14 June 2024
PremierMxolisi Dukwana
Preceded byMontseng Tsiu
Succeeded byMonyatso Mahlatsi
Member of the Free State Executive Council for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation
In office
29 May 2014 – 7 May 2019
PremierSisi Ntombela
Ace Magashule
Preceded byDan Kgothule
Succeeded byLimakatso Mahasa
Provincial Treasurer of the African National Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 January 2023
Preceded bySisi Ntombela (2021)
Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 March 2023
In office
21 May 2014 – 7 May 2019
Personal details
Born29 November 1960
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Residence(s)Odendaalsrus, Free State

Nokwanje Selina "Mathabo" Leeto (born 29 November 1960) is a South African politician who was elected to the Free State Provincial Legislature in the 2014 general election. She was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation. Leeto left the provincial legislature at the 2019 general election. She was elected provincial treasurer of the African National Congress in January 2023 and returned to the Provincial Legislature in March 2023. She was then appointed as the MEC for Health. Following the 2024 general election, Leeto took over as the MEC for Social Development.

Background

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Leeto served as a ward councillor for the African National Congress and as a member of the National Executive Committee of the women's league.[1] She was the mayor of the Matjhabeng Local Municipality, before becoming the mayor of the Lejweleputswa District Municipality in 2011. After her swearing-in as district mayor, it was revealed that the municipality spent R640 000 on her inauguration ceremony instead of extending a job-creation programme.[2] In June 2012, Leeto was elected as chairperson of the ANC's Lejweleputswa Region.[3]

Free State provincial government

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MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation: 2014–2019

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Leeto was elected to the Free State Provincial Legislature in the 2014 general election as the ANC won 22 seats in the legislature.[4] She was then appointed by premier Ace Magashule to the Executive Council of the Free State as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, succeeding Dan Kgothule who was not re-elected to the provincial legislature.[5][6]

She remained as MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation following Sisi Ntombela's election as Premier of the Free State.[7] In early-March 2019, Leeto was elected president of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco).[8] The following month, Sanco accused Magashule of moving Leeto down the ANC's national party list to prevent her from joining Parliament following the May 8, 2019 general elections.[9] Leeto was not elected to parliament and left the provincial legislature.[10]

MEC for Health: 2023–2024

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Leeto was sworn in as a Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature on 13 March 2023.[11] The following day, newly elected premier Mxolisi Dukwana announced his Executive Council which saw Leeto replace Montseng Tsiu as MEC for Health.[12]

MEC for Social Development: 2024

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Following the 2024 provincial election, Dukwana was replaced as premier with Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae. Lesotha-Mathae named Leeto as the new MEC for Social Development.[13]

In the provincial ANC

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After Magashule was elected Secretary-General of the African National Congress, a position which required that he must resign as ANC provincial chairperson, in December 2017, Leeto and the MEC for Police‚ Roads and Transport Sam Mashinini were seen as favourites to succeed Magashule as the ANC provincial chairperson in the Free State. Leeto was accused of being a Magashule loyalist, which she has subsequently refuted.[1] Mashinini was elected provincial chairperson at the party's conference in May 2018.[14]

Provincial treasurer of the ANC

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Leeto was elected as the provincial treasurer of the ANC at the party's elective conference in January 2023, defeating staunch Magashule supporter Vusi Tshabalala.[15]

Controversies

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Tenure as Matjhabeng mayor

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Leeto and Health MEC Benny Malakoane appeared in the Welkom Regional Court on 1 August 2014 on fraud and corruption charges relating to Malakoane's tenure as Matjhabeng municipal manager while Leeto served as the municipality's mayor; the case was transferred to the Bloemfontein Regional Court.[16] Their trial officially began in November 2015.[17] Leeto was acquitted on more than 200 charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and accepting bribes dating back to her tenure as Matjhabeng mayor on 4 November 2016 after she wrote to the National Prosecuting Authority requesting them to review all the charges against her.[18]

Leeto and Bloem Water CEO Limakatso Moorosi were arrested by The Hawks for fraud and corruption on 16 February 2018 dating back to her tenure as Matjhabeng mayor.[19] She had allegedly awarded a tender worth millions of rands for the procurement and installation of telephone systems, CCTV cameras, photocopy machines without following the correct tender procedures as stipulated by law and she and Moorosi reportedly received kickbacks; the NPA later withdrew the charges due to the low chances of success.[20]

Comments during Women's Day debate

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During a debate in the legislature on Women's Day in the legislature in August 2018, Leeto was accused of saying that when Dutch navigator Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape was when all the trouble started in South Africa and that all white men are rapists and they should be exhumed from their graves to account.[21] She had earlier been accused of calling the DA leader in the legislature Roy Jankielsohn "a piece of faeces"; she denied this and said that the translator misheard her when she was speaking Sesotho. Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum subsequently called for her dismissal.[22] Leeto denied making the comments and said that she was not a racist person.[23][24]

Personal life

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Leeto is a resident of Odendaalsrus.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b "'I am not a Magashule loyalist' – Free State premier candidate speaks out". SowetanLIVE. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  2. ^ "Municipality used R640 000 to inaugurate mayor". News24. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  3. ^ OFM. "Lejweleputswa ANC voorsitter wil haar party herenig". OFM (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  4. ^ OFM. "FS Legislature members to be inaugurated next week". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  5. ^ OFM. "Net twee veranderings aan Magashule se uitvoerende raad". OFM (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  6. ^ "New faces in Free State executive". IOL. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela reshuffles Cabinet". IOL. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  8. ^ OFM. "Mathabo Leeto elected as Sanco president". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  9. ^ "#Elections2019: Sanco accuses Ace Magashule of tampering with #ANCList". IOL. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Nokwanje Selina Leeto". People's Assembly. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  11. ^ OFM. "Four sworn in as new Free State Legislature members". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  12. ^ Reporter, Citizen (2023-03-15). "Free State Premier Mxolisi Dukwana appoints new MECs in Cabinet shake-up". The Citizen. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  13. ^ "Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae announces members of Free State Executive Council for 7th administration | South African Government". www.gov.za. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  14. ^ "New leadership elected for ANC in the Free State". News24. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  15. ^ Njilo, Nonkululeko (2023-01-22). "ANC PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE: No friends of Ace: Magashule allies fail to land Free State ANC Top Five slots". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  16. ^ OFM. "FS Health MEC corruption case transferred to Bfn". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  17. ^ OFM. "Korrupsieverhoor van twee Vrystaatse LUR'e begin". OFM (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  18. ^ OFM. "No basis to continue with prosecution against FS Sport MEC: NPA". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  19. ^ "Two more Free State officials arrested for fraud, corruption | eNCA". www.enca.com. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  20. ^ OFM. "'Bloem Water can't function optimally without me' - CEO in bail application". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  21. ^ Heerden, Pierce Van (2018-08-08). "A FS MEC accused of racial slurs". Bloemfontein Courant. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  22. ^ "AfriForum demands dismissal of Free State MEC due to racist behaviour - AfriForum". hAfriForum. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  23. ^ OFM. "FS MEC accused of racial slurs". OFM. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  24. ^ "Corruption-accused ANC MEC calls all white people 'rapists'". The Citizen. 2018-08-11. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  25. ^ "'Leave names,pay Eskom!'". Netwerk24 (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 2023-03-15.
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