The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is set to have the two youngest MPs sitting for Parliament after the party announced that Cleo Wilskut (20) and Jasmine Petersen (22) were selected to represent the party.
PA leader, Gayton McKenzie, congratulated the two young ladies on their achievement.
Wilskut and Petersen are set to fill two of the PA’s nine seats and will be sworn in as MPs on Friday and will play a role in selecting South Africa’s new president, TimesLIVE reported.
McKenzie was quick to heap praise on the two young ladies for taking the step into politics at such a young age and he praised the party for appointing young members to oversee a new generation of politicians. He was particularly proud that the two women were able to achieve what they have as coloured women and said he was in prison at age 20.
“I went to jail at age 20; they are going into parliament at age 20. We are breaking generational curses in our race,” he said.
“My best friend once asked me, ‘You have everything you want, why are you going into politics?’ I said, ‘I am going into politics to make sure that my past doesn’t become the future of our youth’.”
With only 9 seats, the @OnsBaizaNie is sending 2 ladies (Jasmine Petersen 22 & Cleo Wilskut 20) to the @ParliamentofRSA to represent young women of RSA. How many is @MYANC sending outta the 159 seats they got.
The slogan says #ThumaMina, how can you send a 60+year Olds? pic.twitter.com/LwNvqAuLCo
— Banele (@Real_Banele) June 12, 2024
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
Published first on African Insider
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