Image: @mayor_mpho_phalatse Instragram
Joburg, meet your new mayor – Mpho Phalatse. Phalatse, who was the MMC for Health under former DA mayor and current ActionSA mayoral candidate Herman Mashaba, won the seat with 144 votes while the ANC’s Mpho Moerane only managed to receive 121.
Phalatse’s mayorship is unexpected. The DA, ActionSA, FF Plus, ACDP, UDM and COPE failed to form a coalition to oust the ANC. However, because of the DA’s stance that it would not support ActionSA’s Mashaba, all parties – bar COPE – including the EFF, voted the DA into office.
The DA’s candidate, Vasco da Gama, was elected speaker.
Advocate For Ending Gender Based Violence
Phalatse is a qualified medical doctor, and not only advocates against gender based violence, but has on the ground experience working in this field
She was a sexual assault care practitioner at the Far East Rand Hospital in Springs, and her campaign trial has seen her involved in Safer Spaces – a platform for community safety and violence prevention practitioners in South Africa to connect, share knowledge and learn from each other.
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Background
Phalatse was born 7 November 1977 in Tswane. She lived with her grandmother for 7 years before moving to her parent’s house in Mabopane. She matriculated in 1994, and went to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Witswatersrand. However, she realised she wanted to do something more people-focused and left to study medicine during her second years at the Sefako Makgatho University and MEDUNSA.
She became a medical doctor in 2005 and started an internship at Tembisa Hospital. This was followed by community service in Hammanskraal, where she offered services at Jubilee Hospital as well as various clinics within the area.
Her other qualification include being a Certified Independent Medical Examiner (CIME) with the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME); an advanced diploma and postgraduate diploma in Project Management and Programme Management and an MMed in Public Health Medicine
According to the DA website: “Mpho’s pull to politics came at the Alex Clinic where the living conditions of the community translated into ongoing public health challenges in a vicious cycle, which required principled government leadership.”
She went on become a DA PR councilor in Johannesburg with the aim of restoring Alex Township. She was then asked to serve as the member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Health and Social Development.
“As MMC, Mpho championed the extension of service hours in clinics, as well as the City’s multipronged substance abuse prevention and treatment strategy, among many other achievements.”
She’s a single mother of three children, aged five, eleven and eighteen, and enjoys spending time with family and friends, walking, taking long drives, and hiking in serene contexts for quiet meditation.
Her favourite artist is Ella Fitzgerald, and her favourite book is the Holy Bible.
