Regina Lesoma

Regina Lesoma is a South African politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2012 until 2024, representing the African National Congress (ANC). She was elected to a full term in 2014 and re-elected in 2019 before losing her seat in 2024. Quotes My activism started in 1982 when I was at school in KZN. At the time I resided in KwaMashu though I attended school in Umlazi. In the townships politics though covert, was quite alive. At the time I was an active member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) where we often underwent different types of training. From 1985 we were establishing “committees of 10” across townships of KZN where I became part of the KwaMashu committee of 10 which encompassed Lindelani and Ntuzuma locations. The Committees of 10 were established to mobilise communities around socio-economic challenges. Amongst the issues we mobilised for at the time was black on black violence as perpetrated by the KwaZulu Police Force against township residence; visitation rights being time limited when wives visited husbands at hostels; and the fact that Lindelani did not have a cemetery, but was also barred from using the Ntuzuma cemetery. We were also not allowed to buy gravesites. After the 1994 general elections I remained active at my branch through my subregion. By 1996 I had become the KwaMashu subregional secretary. Because Durban had been divided into four subregions when we amalgamated them into one; I was fortunate to be elected into the leadership collective of North Durban. When it got integrated into the eThekwini region I also became an additional member in the leadership collective around 1998. I remained in that structure until 2015. In the same period I had arisen to provincial structures of the SACP in KZN. In the greater metropolitan transitional council of Durban in the mid 1995/96 period I was part of the councillors in the transitional council. In 1998 I became part of the Metro Council and I remained there as part of the executive committee until December 2003. In December I requested the party to allow me to become a municipal official at eThekwini municipality to better understand the administration side of municipal functions. I remained a municipal administrator at Deputy-Director level from 2004 until 2012 when I was deployed to Parliament. External links Category:Living people Category:African National Congress politicians Category:Women politicians in South Africa