While questions regarding the age of MPs and MPLs persist on social media following the handing over of the candidate list to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng yesterday, the DA in the Free State says they are pleased that Khakhau will be joining them. 

The DA remains the official opposition in the Free State with six seats in the legislature. 

The party’s leader in the provincial legislature, Roy Jankielsohn, tells OFM News they are looking forward to creating a special portfolio for youth in their caucus to ensure that young people are represented and their plight brought forward. 

He adds the province and the country at large will be seeing more and more young people in such key positions.

Khakhau says the time has come for challenges faced by young people to be addressed and that this will provide her with an opportunity to bring about the much-needed change.

“There are young people out there who have been marginalised for a very long time. Some of them come from very poor backgrounds, some of them have fallen into substance abuse and crime as a coping mechanism. Some do these things not as a coping mechanism to escape their reality, but as a means to provide and put food on the table because their circumstances are not so favourable. They are not able to participate in the economy and those who aspire to participate in the economy have to deal with a lot of red tape,” explains Khakhau.

She adds that policies regarding the quality of education and the health system are amongst some of the key issues that need to be addressed.

OFM News