Born: 18 February 1969
He grew up in the dusty streets of Number Five, a section of Galeshewe.
MEC SHUSHU is a born and bred Kimberlite. Galeshewe is the sprawling township of Kimberley named after the legendary Batlhaping king, Kgosi Galeshewe, much revered for having staged valiant land battles against Colonial forces. The territory of the Batswana’s Batlhaping tribe stretched from the current day Hartswater area to Schmidtsdrift where MEC Shushu’s family was forcefully removed from in the 1960s.
MEC Shushu was born on the 18th February 1969 being the last born among other siblings. MEC Shushu’s scholastic career at Galeshewe ended with the completion of his Matric at Dr. E.P. Lekhela High School in 1990.
His political activism started at a very tender age where he became involved in the structures of the Galeshewe Student Organisation (GASO) and the Galeshewe Youth Organisation (GAYO) that were a thorn in the flesh of the Apartheid regime’s Security Forces. Being a natural born leader, MEC Shushu later occupied leadership positions in those formations.
He was instrumental in a number of student uprisings between the years 1986 leading to 1990. He was detained under the Internal Security Act i.e. detention without trial under the State of Emergency. His release from detention sprung from an intervention by Nelson Mandela when he informed the then Department of Education and Training together with the Apartheid Security forces that “there can never be normal schooling as long as student leaders were languishing in prisons and with others being hunted down by the Security Forces.”
MEC Shushu continued his higher education at the Vista University in Bloemfontein where he obtained his Senior Education Diploma subsequent to which he then studied part time for his Bachelor of Arts degree having majored in Psychology. He started teaching at Mogomotsi High School in Warrenton, Ikhutseng in 1994. The MEC was a very active member of one of the country’s biggest educator unions, South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and served in some of its most strategic structures. He was also part of the national negotiations team that represented the teacher union at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC). He was also an alternate member for SADTU at the Public Service Co-Ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). The MEC also holds an Advanced Diploma in Trade Union Studies and a Certificate in Public Sector Finance. He is currently studying for his Masters Degree in Public Administration with the University of Free State.
He was then deployed by the ANC in 1999 to serve as the Head of Office in the Office of the MEC for Education until 2004. He diligently carried out his work as a disciplined deployee of the ANC without failure to the organisation. In 2004 he was called upon to again serve as the Head of Office in the Office of MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs until 2009, a duty he also carried out with the same commitment and vigour until his election into the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature after the 2009 General and Provincial Elections.
MEC Shushu has held various leadership positions in structures of the alliance namely Regional Executive Committee of the ANC, District Secretary of Kimberley for the South African Communist Party. He is currently serving his second term as Provincial Secretary of the South African Communist Party having been elected at the 3rd Provincial Congress of the Party in 2008. He also serves as an ex officio member of the Central Committee of the Party, the highest decision making body of the Party between congresses. The SACP is much known for its strong voice on land and agrarian issues.
- For more information contact: Mr. Lerato wa Modise (Head of Ministry)
(053) 838 9165 or 083 579 3189