Jakes Maseka

Jakes Maseka
Member of the National Assembly
In office
20 February 2001 – April 2004
Personal details
Born
Jacobus Tapedi Maseka

(1943-06-11)11 June 1943
Died13 July 2016(2016-07-13) (aged 73)
Ga-Rankuwa, Gauteng
South Africa
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyMovement Democratic Party
Other political
affiliations
United Democratic Movement

Jacobus Tapedi "Jakes" Maseka (11 June 1943 – 13 July 2016) was a South African politician, lawyer, and businessman. He represented the United Democratic Movement (UDM) in the National Assembly from 2001 to 2004 but later broke away to found the Movement Democratic Party (MDP).

Early life and career

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Born on 11 June 1943,[1] Maseka was a prominent attorney in the former bantustan of Bophuthatswana and chaired the bantustan's law society during apartheid.[2][3] He was a member of the African National Congress before he joined the UDM.[2]

Political career

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In the 1999 general election, Maseka stood as a UDM candidate for election to the National Assembly.[1] Though he was not initially elected, he was sworn in on 20 February 2001, filling the casual vacancy created by Sam de Beer's resignation.[4] During the legislative term that followed, he served as the UDM's spokesman on safety and security[5] and also deputised Kingsley Masemola as the party's deputy national chairperson.[6]

Maseka left Parliament after the 2004 general election and registered his own political party, the MDP, to contest the next general election in 2009; he was MDP's president.[7] The party did not win any seats in 2004. It nonetheless remained active and Maseka was campaigning for it ahead of the 2016 local elections at the time of his death.[8]

Personal life and death

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On 13 July 2016, Maseka was shot dead in an armed robbery at a funeral parlour he owned in Ga-Rankuwa.[2] Eyewitness News reported that it was viewed as a possible assassination.[3] He had children and grandchildren.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b "General Notice: Electoral Commission Notice 1113 of 1999 – Final List of Candidates" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 26 May 1999. p. 242. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Cops pursue politician's killers". Pretoria Rekord. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b Bateman, Barry (14 July 2016). "Prominent attorney Jake Maseka gunned down near Pretoria". EWN. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "NNP: Death for Sizzlers killers". News24. 16 March 2004. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  6. ^ "UDM accuses national leadership of corruption". IOL. 6 February 2003. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  7. ^ "MDP will top SA election ballot paper". The Mail & Guardian. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b Kola, Seipati (29 July 2016). "'A good man gone too soon'". Daily Sun. Retrieved 18 May 2023.