Ms Thembisile Angel Khanyile

What is your political background? How did you come to join your political party and become an MP? I joined the DA in 2014 as an activist and later became a PR Councillor in Lekwa Local Municipality. I have also served as a Constituency Secretary and Opposition Whip at local council. I believe in hard work and dedication in fighting for people’s rights and restoration of their dignity. l later became a Member of Parliament where I continue to fight for our people’s rights, especially their right to have access to basic service delivery.

What does your job as an MP entail? What do you enjoy about being an MP? Mostly, we conduct oversight and hold departments to account. Currently, I serve on the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. l do my best in ensuring the citizens of this country are properly documented and the Department assists them as early as they possibly can, and adhere to their turnaround times.

What are your or your party's aspirations/plans for the Sixth Parliament? To ensure we hold government to account; that every citizen and anyone entering the country is documented; and fighting unemployment.

Which Constituency Office have you been assigned to? Can you give examples of Constituency work you engaged in? I am currently in Lekwa Constituency. At the moment, l am trying to address a number of issues, which include but are not limited to: poor service delivery, cases of sewer leakages and inconsistent supply of clean water and electricity.

Does Parliament do a good job of holding the Executive to account? If not, what can be done to improve this? Parliament is doing a good job in holding the Executive to account. We need to ensure all recommendations made are implemented.

What can be done to get citizens more interested/ involved in Parliament? Is this an area where Parliament can improve and if so, what recommendations do you have? What are you passionate about? This applies both in political/ professional arena as well as personally? It should be ensured that every citizen is documented; be it in urban or rural areas. We need to ensure people in the rural areas are not forgotten. Further, we need to secure our borders to ensure every person entering the country is properly documented and accounted for. Having a huge number of undocumented individuals affects service delivery, especially in hospitals and municipalities. I am passionate about improving people’s lives.

What is your message to South Africa? If we combine our efforts, we can make South Africa better for everyone who lives in it. We can be the change we want to see because we are the ones we have been waiting for!

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