IT’S BEAUTIFUL BUT SCARY!
SA’s youngest MP Hlomela Bucwa on the challenges of her new public responsibility
SHE throws open the door of her parliamentary office and ushers us in. “Sorry, it’s not very glamorous,” Hlomela Bucwa says with a wry chuckle. That’s putting it mildly. There are no pictures on the wall, no homely knick-knacks or even a pot plant – just a battered old wooden desk and a bookcase holding lots of rather dull-looking reports.
There hasn’t been much time for decorating. Since moving into her new office two weeks ago Hlomela has had her mind on other things – such as preparing her maiden speech.
In November last year when she was sworn in as a member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA) at the tender age of 23 she went down in the record books as South Africa’s youngest MP ever. Many politicians from across the floor sneered at her, saying she was too young for the job. But the mesmerising speech she delivered last month had many of them eating their words. For six minutes she poured her heart out, speaking about a lost generation of bornfrees who’ve had their dreams trampled on. Millions under the age of 25 are unemployed and sitting around twiddling their thumbs because they have no access to further education or training.
The video of her speech went viral. Who was this bright and intense young woman?
She might have looked the picture of confidence as she took to the podium yet Hlomela (now 24) admits she was jelly inside.
“But my mom always told me that if you’re not nervous, you don’t care about what you’re doing.”
The feedback Hlomela has received has been incredible, she adds. Young people across South Africa sent her messages to congratulate her and DA leader Mmusi Maimane phoned her.
It caps a whirlwind four months. After a gruelling interview process the party selected Hlomela and she was sworn in on 10 November as a DA MP representing the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) in the Eastern Cape.
“It was a special moment for me, and my father was there to support me,” she says. “It was beautiful but also scary – it suddenly becomes so real that you’re now a public representative and that you have a huge responsibility.”
Since then it’s been nonstop action with speeches in the national assembly, caucus meetings, plenary sessions and portfolio committee meetings. Fittingly Hlomela has been assigned to focus on higher education.
And clearly she’s in her element. She seems completely at home in the parliamentary precinct, striding along confidently in her red high heels.
“There’s a bit of a knack to walking in these,” she tells us later as she navigates the bumpy cobblestones in her towering 8-cm heels while posing for our photographer. As we walk, other politicians greet her enthusiastically – even though she’s been here only a few months they know who she is.
“It seems like a dream. Just last year I was sitting watching these MPs on TV and now I’m one of them.”
SHE’S always been a go-getter. Growing up in Port Elizabeth, she usually had her nose in a book and was among the top five students in her class at the school in Motherwell, where her family lived. Her parents – dad Lindisipho, who worked as an operator on the production floor at Ford, and Daniswa, a nurse – tried getting her into a better school but were unsuccessful. “And my mom was like, ‘This is our only kid. It can’t be that we can’t take her to the best schools.’” From Grade 5 to 7 Hlomela went to a private Ed-U-College where she excelled and she was later accepted at Riebeek College boarding school in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. “I’ve always had to excel academically to ensure that I got the opportunities I needed and my parents worked extremely hard to get me the best education they could afford,” she says. Her dad hadn’t had the chance to attend university and while her mother yearned to be a doctor, she’d had to train as a nurse instead because she didn’t have the finances to follow her dream. So they were immensely proud when their daughter went on to study law at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in Port Elizabeth.
HLOMELA joined Daso in 2012, and in 2014 she became the first female president of NMMU’s student representative council. “For a long time I didn’t appreciate being called the first female because for me it kind of had the connotation that people believe women are unable to lead,” she says.
And now she has to put up with being known as South Africa’s youngest MP. Before her Yusuf Cassim, also of the DA, was the youngest – he was sworn in at age 24.
“I don’t know,” she says, shaking her head. “My dad just keeps asking me why I keep putting myself in a position where I’m making history.”
If you didn’t know Hlomela was 24, you’d never guess it. When she talks she sounds like a seasoned politician, reeling off facts about the crisis at the SABC and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) that has put 17 million social benefit grants at risk.
“Generally I think I’m an overachiever – it’s just how I am. I’m a perfectionist. But there are some who question why I’m here, so I do need to work harder.”
She hopes that with her maiden speech she’s shown everyone she means business.
With only about 10 MPs under the age of 35, parliament could do with more young blood, she reckons.
“Look at issues such as the Fees Must Fall protests. These could have at least been somewhat curbed if you had someone directly involved who understood what was happening and the issue of financial aid. But instead the vibe you get is ‘Ag, we’re old, we know everything, we’ll attend to it.’”
When she goes home at night to her little house in the parliamentary village in Acacia Park in Goodwood, Cape Town, she usually takes a few reports with her so she can read up, because, “I don’t like speaking about stuff that I don’t know about. In those cases I’d rather keep quiet.”
In between all of this she’s completing her final year of law. But she still finds time to relax and unwind. “I love the outdoors and going to the beach. I’m going to go bungee-jumping in a few weeks – I think it will be a good way to relieve stress.”
And is there a special someone in her life?
This is the first time during the interview that her composure slips.
“Why do you want to know?” she asks, shuffling uncomfortably in her chair.
“You know people keep asking me this, and I guess I can provide an answer now so guys can stop sending me their proposals and invites.”
Desperate to catch her eye, a few have even gone as far as sending her their CVs.
“Yes, there’s someone,” she says shyly. “We’ve been dating for two years.”
That’s all she’s prepared to say on the topic.
And where does she see herself in 10 years? Many struggle with this question but Hlomela has it all worked out.
“I’d love to be settled – married and with a beautiful family. I’d also like to be an advocate with my own law firm and be a public servant in any way I can be.”
But that’s way down the line. Right now she’s trying to prove herself and make political opponents sit up and listen.