Mr Litho Suka - ANC

Litho Suka, constituency member for Karoo towns, Willowmore and Steytlerville. This 54-year-old ANC member was born in Steytlerville but has resided in Port Elizabeth for the past 30 years. Currently, he serves as the whip in the Transport Portfolio Committee.

Political background: I have a diploma in teaching. I am a teacher by profession, and I taught for about 12 years or so at a Senior Secondary school in PE. I became involved in politics in 1976 when I was still a student. Then I went to college and became involved in student politics. When I started working in 1982, I upped my political career, in terms of being involved in education politics. I was involved in the National Education Union of South Africa, and am one of the founder members of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). I was one of the first executives to serve on SADTU when I was still teaching. I was also involved in ANC politics, starting from the UDF when it was formed in 1983. I joined the ANC, formally, in 1990 when it was unbanned and I have been involved in ANC politics ever since. I became a member of the Eastern Cape Provincial legislature in 1994 and served there for many years. I became a member of the National Assembly in 2009.

What does my job involve? I am a lawmaker - generally speaking, Members of Parliament are the lawmakers. Secondly, I am doing oversight on various Committees, but specifically, now in Transport as a Whip of the Committee. A Whip is person who looks after party members, bringing them in line with what is required in Parliament. It also involves looking at the discipline of members and more importantly seeing that the politics of the ANC is being implemented in Parliament.

Highlights of my constituency work: Formally, I represent Willowmore and Steytlerville, and rural areas and farms there. Informally, I also represent the Nelson Mandela Metro. As far as the highlights are concerned, any contribution by government in terms of improving the lot of people is commendable. When they have some issue around a social matter we do call the relevant departments to address those issues. Most of the areas are poverty stricken and not much is being done but there is a movement by Rural Development Ministry to come to the assistance of those in need, especially in terms of small projects like the bakery and farming projects.

Highlights of Parliament: I’ve served on the Education and Public Service and Administration Committees previously, but now I am the Whip in the Transport Portfolio Committee. Over and above this, I also serve on the Rules of Parliament sub-committee. The strengths of Parliament are to keep the Executive on its toes by overseeing it. We are always in touch with people through our various constituencies. The only downside is that there never seems to be enough time for Members to do all the work they want to do.

I am passionate about interacting with the community because of my political background, but, especially because I am an educator. I like making contact with people, I like my work, and I like what I am doing.

My message is to ask people to be a little patient for services from the government. I know time is running out, but the reality of the matter is that Rome was not built in one day.