Local lad on the trail with Clinton

ADELINA Lepota used to sell second-hand clothes to scrape together enough money for her son Goodman to travel to national highschool debating competitions.

Years later, when he told her he had been chosen to work on Hillary Clinton’s US presidential campaign, the single mom knew her efforts had paid off.

Goodman Lepota, 22, from Ivory Park in Johannesburg, is a third-year business and political science student at Marist College in New York, thanks to a scholarship.

And he is breaking barriers. He was the only non-American chosen to work on Clinton’s campaign, and last year was also the campaign manager for Bradley Opere from Kenya, who became the first African student in 200 years to be voted student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The two friends met in 2013 at the African Leadership Academy, a high school in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, that aims CAMPAIGN: Goodman Lepota with a Clinton banner to identify and develop future African leaders.

“When I met Goodman, I knew he had a knack for politics. I asked him to manage the campaign. When we started, the only thing we had was a vision,” said Opere, who described Lepota as a good strategist.

Working on Clinton’s campaign has been a highlight of Lepota’s life so far. He got the job after hearing she was looking for interns for the campaign, and applied online.

“This was one of the most exciting and life-changing experiences of my life,” said Lepota, who started as a political intern and later worked with a communications team.

“I also transcribed all Clinton’s speeches during the three major presidential debates against Donald Trump,” he said.

“Being raised by a single mother, Clinton’s campaign resonated with me. There was this idea of ‘fighting for us’. I’ve always viewed my mother as a fighter, waking up every day to go to work to support me. She did all of that for her child and that was very inspiring to me.”

He said the experience had confirmed that he wanted a career in politics.

Back home in Ivory Park, proud mom Adelina described her son, who attended Jiyana Secondary School in Tembisa before moving to the African Leadership Academy at the beginning of Grade 11, as “a go-getter”.

“From the day he started school he was winning awards and praises from teachers. God has blessed me with an amazing and brilliant child.”

The unemployed mother said she was shocked when her son told her he was working on Clinton’s campaign. “You must understand we are from a poor community and I had never imagined us working for big people like Clinton.”

Lepota said he wanted to return to South Africa once he had graduated.

“I believe even our generation in South Africa can change how things are,” he said.