Mr Isaac Sello Seitlholo
National AssemblyParty: Democratic Alliance on the provincial list for the province of North West
CONTACT DETAILS
Member of the following committees
Portfolio Committee on Public Works and InfrastructureParliament Membership History
Member of Parliament since 2019
Political Leadership Background
I was not actively involved in politics until I joined the Democratic Alliance as a Provincial Campaign Director in 2017 in the North West.
However, since 2006 I had done school related documentaries about our history as a country with interest in the Soweto Uprising.
In 2009 I was merely volunteering to assist with ANC Election work, i.e., Door-to-Door campaigning etc.
It was in my tenure as Campaign Director that I find engaging with various communities and helping resolve local government issues that shaped and built me towards applying to be a Member of Parliament.
After a gruesome selection process and the outcome of the National and Provincial Elections of 2019, I was fortunate and privileged enough to be elected.
As a University Lecturer at the North West University – Potchefstroom Campus, I knew that if I wanted to make a direct impact on people’s lives, Politics was the way to go for me
I will serve on the National Assembly from 2019 to 2024 and hope to bring about change that Builds One South Africa For All.
Education
2008 Tlokwe Secondary School
2009 - 2011 BA Development and Management (North West University)
(Politics, Law and Public Management)
2011 - 2012 BA Honours Development and Management (North West University)
(Public Management)2012 – 2016 – Master’s in Public Management and Governance - North West University
Interests
Watching soccer, cricket, rugby and athletics
Outdoor mini-soccer and cricket
Reading and writing
Past Committee Memberships
Not applicable as this is my first term as an MP
Political Ideas / Achievements Goals & Ambitions for the country
We have seen over the past couple of months the re-emergence of nationalism, one political party that advocates for one race over another, the majority vs the minority. Part of the political challenge we have in this country is thinking that one race is more superior to another. The idea of building one South Africa for all is derived purely from the words enshrined in our Constitution, simply that South Africa belongs to ALL who live in it. This is a political idea which I cherish and will strive to achieve.
My goal is not only to help build our country and make it inclusive to all who live in it, but it is to equally rid South Africans of any fear that they might have towards the direction that our country is headed. The 2019 NPE proved that millions of South Africans voted based on fear. Some fear that their land will be taken away from them and some with the fear that they might not make it into the job market in the coming five years. The reasons may vary according to which political view you may have or political party you may belong to.
When Mmusi Maimane first came into the scene of DA politics, there were several people who ridiculed him for being a puppet of white minorities within the DA. The kind of attacks he underwent were such that I felt as though they were being directed at me. I idolise Mr Maimane, because like him, I too come from a township, a place where nobody expects one to become an MP and or led a multiracial party. During my first year in varsity, I stayed in a hostel dominated by white Afrikaans-speaking students. Instead of seeing that as a disadvantage, I took the opportunity to learn the language to coexist with people I saw as my brothers. Of course, there were instances of prejudice and racial stereotyping that one went through in that environment, but what made me stay was the response and support from the majority of the same white Afrikaans students who stood against their own to protect one amongst them who was a minority. I knew then that there were many more South Africans who understood that we are better together than those seeking to divide us based on skin colour.
Today, I am proud to call myself a South African because I know what South Africa is about. I am proud to be led by Mmusi Maimane because we share in the same principles of a united and diverse South Africa.
My greatest achievements are having proved to those that come from the same township as me, the same township as Mmusi Maimane and many others is that YES, it is indeed possible. It is possible to be a child of an unemployed father and a mother as a breadwinner to make it.
Being an MP just gives me an extra edge to continue doing what I have been doing at ground level at a much higher and more recognisable phase.