Mamagase Elleck Nchabeleng
# Mamagase Elleck Nchabeleng

Mamagase Elleck Nchabeleng is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Council of Provinces since 2019. He co-chairs Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Defence and chairs the Select Committee on Education, Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture. A former anti-apartheid activist who spent time on Robben Island, he formerly served in the National Assembly from 2009 to 2019 and in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature from 2004 to 2009.

## Early life and activism

He was the son of Peter Nchabeleng, who was a prominent ANC and trade union activist in Sekhukhuneland in present-day Limpopo province. From 1976 to 1984, Elleck was imprisoned on Robben Island on charges related to his own ANC activity. After his release, he remained active in anti-apartheid organising in the Northern Transvaal and then in Johannesburg. He has a diploma in rural development planning from St. Francis Xavier University.

## Legislative career: 2004–present

Nchabeleng represented the ANC in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature from 2004 to 2009. In the 2009 general election, he was elected to an ANC seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament. In February 2011, he was additionally elected to chair the Assembly's Portfolio Committee on Labour. He was re-elected to his seat in the 2014 general election, ranked fifth on the ANC's provincial-to-national party list for Limpopo.

In the 2019 general election, he was elected to an ANC seat in the National Council of Provinces, the upper house of Parliament. After the election, he was elected to chair the Select Committee on Education, Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture. He also became Co-Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, serving alongside Cyril Xaba of the National Assembly.

