Mr Wouter Wessels, formerly a member of the Free State Provincial legislature, is the new FF Plus member of parliament and replaces Dr Pieter Mulder, who has resigned from parliament after nearly thirty years.
Wessels is 32 years old and has been actively involved in party politics for the last 12 years. Four years ago, he was elected to the Free State Provincial Legislature (MPL), where he represented the FF Plus.
He was a member of five portfolio committees in the Legislature and he focused especially on his role as member of the provincial public accounts committee, where he endeavoured to improve the financial management of provincial departments and municipalities as well as holding the bureaucracy accountable for corruption and mismanagement.
From 2009 until he was elected as MPL, he was the private secretary of the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Dr Pieter Mulder. During that time, he worked closely with Dr Mulder and was, therefore, able to learn a lot from the veteran politician.
Wessels was born in East London and matriculated from Grens High School. He studied at the University of the Free State, where he played an active role in student leadership.
He was the national youth leader of the FF Plus for five years and he advocated for equal opportunities for youths in South Africa while openly opposing the marginalisation of young people due to their skin colour.
He is currently a member if the FF Plus federal council, the federal committee and executive committee. He is also the chairperson of the party’s strategic committee and fulfils the role of the political head of the party’s media unit.
With the 2014 and 2016 elections, he was the national elections coordinator. He played an important role in the relaunch of the FF Plus in 2013 as well.
Wessels is an expert in the technological field and was also responsible for numerous technological developments for the party’s election campaigns.
Contact numbers: 082 674 6670 /065 801 7216
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