Young PMB politician’s inspirational journey
Sphesihle Zondi (29) is number 16 on the DA’s KZN provincial elections list
It is often said that one's destiny in life is sealed at childhood.
However, Witness politics editor Clive Ndou spoke to Pietermaritzburg-based Sphesihle Zondi (29), who grew up as an orphan in the dusty township of Sweetwaters but did not allow his disadvantaged background to define his destiny.
Zondi, who at the age of 23 was already a councillor at the uMngeni Municipality, is one of the people topping the DA KwaZulu-Natal provincial election candidate list.
According to the DA’s KZN provincial elections list unveiled by the party’s leadership on Tuesday, Zondi is rated number 16 out of the 48 candidates, which the DA was planning to deploy to the KZN Legislature after the May 29 general elections.
To most people of his age and background, becoming a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) would be considered as a career defining moment.
However, for Zondi, it is just another step on the career ladder.
“Of course I’m grateful for the opportunities which the DA has presented me with. But I’m not surprised at all about the fact that I’m on the list.
“I’m the kind of a person who is very driven in terms of what I want to achieve. If you put in the hard work, then the results will follow,” he said.
Zondi, who is currently the DA uMgungundlovu District Municipality caucus chairperson, adopted a serious approach to his career development at an early age.
After excelling in matric, which he completed in 2011 at Pietermaritzburg’s uMthoqotho High School in kwaNxamalala, Zondo was accepted at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal's Pietermaritzburg campus, where he went on to graduate with an honours degree in industrial microbiology after securing a bursary.
While at UKZN, Zondi did not only demonstrate commitment to his studies but also showed his leadership qualities.
After joining the DA Student Organisation (DASO), Zondi, in a short space of time, rose to the position of chairperson of the organisation’s UKZN Pietermaritzburg campus.
Zondi, who was brought up by his grandmother after losing both his parents at the age of seven, was subsequently elected as DASO’s national chairperson.
Despite growing up in an area dominated by the ANC and IFP, Zondi, who currently resides in kwaHaza under the uMngeni Municipality, chose the DA.
“I was attracted by the DA’s policies and liberal values,” he said.
The DA, which insists that it was a political party for “all South Africans”, was often projected as a “white party” by its rivals, including the ruling ANC.
It was partly due to the depiction of it being a “white party” which made it difficult for some young black people to associate themselves with the party.
But Zondi rejected the narrative projecting the DA as a white party, as “mischaracterisation”.
“The truth of the matter is that the DA is one of the most diverse political parties in this country. It’s those people who have a narrow interpretation of diversity who end up arriving at the wrong conclusion that the DA was a white party.
“Having said that, it is our responsibility as DA members to correct the misleading narrative by going out to the communities and to make them understand what the DA really stands for,” he said.
By selecting Zondi and 47 other candidates who will represent the party in the upcoming May general elections, the DA leadership believes the party has demonstrated to the people of KZN that it was possible to assemble a diverse team without compromising the high standards which individuals wanting to be MPL should meet.
DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers said Zondi and the 47 other candidates were selected after a rigorous process.
“Our candidates have been through an eleven-step process that started in April 2023 and then proceeded to be interviewed by the structures of the party in September 2023, which developed a short-list,” he said.
“The DA in KZN remains encouraged that this process was accepted by all candidates and produced an outcome that sees the best possible group of potential MPs and MPLs to represent the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.