Mpho Lekgoro
{{Short description|South African politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| party = African National Congress
| office1 = Member of the National Assembly
| termstart1 = June 1999
| termend1 = 1 August 2007
| citizenship = South Africa
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|24|1989|03|21}}
}}
Mpho Morepye Sephwe Lekgoro (born 1964 or 1965) is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2007. He was formerly an ANC Youth League activist.
Anti-apartheid activism
Lekgoro was born in 1964 or 1965.{{Cite news |last=Claiborne |first=William |date=1989-03-21 |title=4 South African prisoners flee, seek refuge in Bonn's embassy |language=en-US |work=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/03/21/4-south-african-prisoners-flee-seek-refuge-in-bonns-embassy/25609ba4-a253-404d-9d3c-98cc908f6c03/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |issn=0190-8286}} He was a member of the United Democratic Front and South African Youth Congress in the 1980s and was detained for his anti-apartheid activism. He made international news in March 1989, aged 24, when he and three other young detainees escaped police custody and took refuge in the West German Embassy in Pretoria; they escaped from Hillbrow Hospital, where they had been receiving treatment for starvation after participating in a nationwide hunger strike by political detainees. The West German Embassy allowed them to stay.{{Cite news |date=1989-03-21 |title=4 Jailed Blacks Flee to Embassy in Pretoria |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/21/world/4-jailed-blacks-flee-to-embassy-in-pretoria.html |access-date=2023-04-10 |issn=0362-4331}} From 1994 to 1996, he was secretary-general of the ANC Youth League under league president Lulu Johnson, with Febe Potgieter as his deputy.{{Cite journal |date=1994 |title=Mokaba comes of age |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files4/Mav5n1Feb94.pdf |journal=Mayibuye |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=7 |access-date=12 April 2023}}{{Cite web |date=20 December 1994 |title=49th National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected at Conference |url=https://www.anc1912.org.za/49th-national-conference-national-executive-committee-as-elected-at-conference/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=African National Congress |language=en-US}}
Parliament: 1999–2007
Lekgoro served in the post-apartheid Parliament of South Africa from 1999 to 2007, gaining election to the National Assembly in 1999{{cite magazine |date=11 June 1999 |title=General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures |url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/za/1999/za-government-gazette-dated-1999-06-11-no-20203.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=408 |issue=20203 |pages= |access-date=26 March 2021}} and 2004.{{cite magazine |date=20 April 2004 |title=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 |url=https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/262770.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=466 |issue=2677 |pages=4–95 |access-date=26 March 2021}} During his second term he served as spokesperson for the ANC's parliamentary caucus.{{Cite web |date=2006-10-21 |title=ANC caucus rejects report of MP money plan |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2006-10-21-anc-caucus-rejects-report-of-mp-money-plan/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} He resigned from Parliament on 1 August 2007{{Cite web |date=2009-01-15 |title=National Assembly Members |url=http://www.pmg.org.za/parlinfo/nalist#_ftnref87 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514071402/http://www.pmg.org.za/parlinfo/nalist#_ftnref87 |archive-date=14 May 2009 |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=Parliamentary Monitoring Group}} and was replaced as spokesperson by Khotso Khumalo.{{Cite web |date=21 February 2008 |title=New ANC Caucus Spokesperson |url=https://ancparliament.org.za/content/new-anc-caucus-spokesperson |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=ANC Parliamentary Caucus}}