Usha Roopnarain (born 7 July 1974) is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal. Between 1999 and 2013, she represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly and KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. She resigned from the party in June 2013 and joined the African National Congress (ANC).
Usha Roopnarain | |
|---|---|
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 27 June 2001 – May 2009 | |
| Constituency | KwaZulu-Natal |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 July 1974 |
| Citizenship | South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress (since June 2013) |
| Other political affiliations | Inkatha Freedom Party (until June 2013) |
Political career
editBorn on 7 July 1970,[1] Roopnarain joined the IFP in 1998.[2] In the general election of the following year, she was elected to represent the party in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature,[2] where she served until June 2001. On 27 June 2001, she was transferred to the National Assembly, where she swopped seats with Gabriel Ndabandaba.[3] She was narrowly elected to a full term in the National Assembly in the 2004 general election.[4]
In the 2009 general election, she was not initially re-elected to her seat,[5] but she rejoined the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature during the legislative term that followed. She served as the IFP's shadow provincial minister for health.[6] However, in early June 2013,[7] she resigned from the IFP after the party leadership told her that it intended to remove her from her seat. According to Roopnarain, she had fallen out with the leadership in 2010 after she was nominated to serve on the party's national council and declined, which was viewed as disobedient and disrespectful to IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.[7]
At a press conference in June, she said that she had left the IFP because she could not "sink into a political wilderness where virtues like honesty are not valued".[8] She also announced that she was joining the rival ANC because she wanted to be part of a "progressive organisation".[8]
References
edit- ^ "General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 408, no. 20203. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 11 June 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ a b "ANC ushers in Usha". Post. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via PressReader.
- ^ "The National Assembly List of Resinations and Nominations". Parliament of South Africa. 2 June 2002. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
- ^ "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ "General Notice: Notice 408 of 2009 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 22 April 2009" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 526, no. 32184. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 28 April 2009. pp. 4–50. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
- ^ "MEC 'lied' about flight, says IFP". Witness. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- ^ a b "IFP bleeds as top officials defect to ANC". Sunday Times. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- ^ a b Biyela, Lunga (18 June 2013). "IFP trio find new home". Witness. Retrieved 18 May 2023.