Mathew Cuthbert

Mathew Cuthbert (born 21 September, 1993) is a South African politician who served as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry from June 2019 until April 2023. A member of the Democratic Alliance, he was elected to the National Assembly in May 2019. Before that, Cuthbert served as a councillor in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. Quotes My first recollection of politics is the lunchtime conversations I would have with my aunt, a Progressive Party stalwart, at family gatherings where she would talk to me for hours on end about this gentleman by the name of Tony Leon. Thereafter, I found out that Tony Leon was, in fact, the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), this piqued my interest in politics and I set out to join the party, however, I would have to wait as my town did not have an active DA Youth Structure. I only became involved in active politics at age 18 when I was studying at the University of Pretoria where I joined the Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation (DASO). During my time at DASO, I was elected Branch Leader and led us to our first-ever Student Representative Council (SRC) election Majority in 2013 In 2014 I graduated from the DA Young Leaders Programme. Moreover, I developed a keen interest in the moral philosophy of John Rawls at university which helped shaped my worldview and political beliefs. I believe this foundation led me to become the politician I am today. After graduating with my Bachelor of Political Science in 2014, I was in search of employment and ended up working as a Constituency Officer in Benoni/Etwatwa area after the local MPL offered me an opportunity for growth and development. I served in that role for almost 2 years until I became the youngest Councillor ever (at the time) in the City of Ekurhuleni at age 22. During my time as a Councillor, I decided to upskill myself and earned my Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration at the Wits Business School whilst I served as the DA’s Shadow MMC for Economic Development. In mid-2018 I decided to throw my hat in the ring for our internal National and Provincial Election (NPE) lists and was fortunate enough to be elected to the National Assembly where I currently serve as the DA’s Shadow Deputy Minister for Trade, Industry and Economic Development. There are three facets to serving as an MP namely; legislative work, constituency work and party-political campaigning. Firstly, my legislative work entails attending portfolio committee meetings where we scrutinise financial reports, legislation and executive office-bearers. Also, we attend sittings in the National Assembly where we discuss and resolve contemporary issues facing our country. Legislative work also takes shapes in the form of submitting questions, delivering motions and members statements as well as delivering speeches in the house. Secondly, a large part of our work is constituency-based where we are expected to liaise with and assist our voters in solving critical service delivery matters affecting them. It is of paramount importance that our residents ‘see and feel’ their public representatives working on their behalf – as we serve where we do because of them. External links Category:Living people Category:Politicians from South Africa Category:1993 births