Lolo Mashiane

Lorraine Mmakgosi "Lolo" Mashiane (born 5 June 1956) is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2014. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) during her first term but defected to the Congress of the People (COPE) for her second. However, ahead of the 2014 general election, Mashiane was among several COPE members who openly denounced the party, ending her parliamentary career.

Early life Mashiane was born on 5 June 1956.

Legislative career

African National Congress: 2004–2008 She was elected to the National Assembly in the 2004 general election, standing as a candidate on the ANC's national party list. However, on 25 November 2008, Mashiane resigned from the National Assembly, ceding her seat to Thandi Shongwe.

Congress of the People: 2008–2014 After resigning, Mashiane joined COPE, a new breakaway party led by Mosiuoa Lekota and Sam Shilowa. In the 2009 general election, she returned to the National Assembly on COPE's ticket. She also served as the party's administrative whip in Parliament.

Suspension In the prolonged leadership struggle between Lekota and Shilowa, Mashiane was firmly aligned to Shilowa, who was the party's chief whip. In May 2010, as a party elective conference approached, one of Mashiane's personal emails was leaked to the press, leading to accusations that Lekota's camp had intercepted her private communications. However, both suspensions were declared invalid by the Western Cape High Court, which said that Shilowa and Mashiane had unlawfully been denied the right to respond to the charges against them. After the court ruling, Lekota denied that Shilowa and Mashiane had been removed at all, saying that they had merely been relieved of their financial responsibilities. Although Mashiane remained with COPE after Shilowa left, serving out the remainder of her parliamentary term, she remained at odds with the Lekota-headed leadership.

In February 2014, as that year's general election approached, the Mail & Guardian reported that Mashiane would leave COPE and would instead stand in the election as a candidate for the Democratic Alliance. The letter said that COPE had "run its course" and was disabled by "poor political leadership". Mashiane left Parliament after the election.