Mxolisa Sokatsha

Mxolisa Simon Sokatsha (7 January 1965 –25 March 2022) was a South African accountant, educator and politician. A member of the African National Congress, he was a Member of the Executive Council in the Northern Cape from 2009 to 2019 and a Member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature from 2003 to 2019. In 2019 he was elected to the South African National Assembly.

Early life and career
Mxolisa Simon Sokatsha was born on 7 January 1965 in the town of Richmond, then part of South Africa's Cape Province. He attended high school in Dimbaza, northwest of King William's Town. He obtained a teacher's diploma in 1990. Sokatsha worked as a teacher in Graaff-Reinet and Richmond in the early-1990s.

Political career
During the 1980s, Sokatsha was involved in the establishment of the Midlands and Karoo Youth Congress. He served as the chairperson of the South African Students Congress and SANTISCO. He was the site chairperson of the South African Democratic Trade Union in Graaff-Reinet and Richmond. Sokatsha served as the first post-apartheid mayor of Richmond between 1994 and 1996. He was also the chairperson of the ANC's Pixley ka Seme region for three terms. From 1997 to 1999, he was an accountant of the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality.

Provincial government
In 2003, Sokatsha was sworn in as a Member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature. He was appointed chairperson of the legislature's education committee, a post held until after the 2004 general election, when he was named chief whip of the ANC caucus.

After the 2009 general election, premier Hazel Jenkins appointed him Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health. He was sworn in on 12 May 2009. Sylvia Lucas was elected premier in June 2013, and she retained him in his post. Lucas appointed him MEC for Social Development on 30 May 2014, following the 2014 general election. He succeeded Tiny Chotelo, while Mac Jack succeeded him as MEC for Health. On 1 March 2016, Lucas reshuffled her executive, in which she appointed Sokatsha to the Roads and Public Works portfolio, succeeding Dawid Rooi. Gift van Staden became the new MEC for Social Development. On 10 May 2017 Lucas reshuffled her executive again and named him the MEC for Arts, Sports and Culture, succeeding Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba. He briefly held the position until 1 June, when Lucas rescinded her decision, returning him to the Roads and Public Works portfolio.

Sokatsha was nominated to the National Assembly of South Africa following the 2019 general election and took office as an MP on 22 May 2019. He served on the Portfolio Committee on Health.

Death
Sokatsha died in a car accident, 20 kilometers outside Belmont in the Northern Cape on the N12 on 25 March 2022. Northern Cape police opened a culpable homicide case.