Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana will lead Parliament’s investigation into the Phala Phala matter after winning the race to chair the impeachment committee tasked with reassessing allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa. Parliament’s long-awaited impeachment inquiry into the Phala Phala saga has taken a significant step forward, with Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana elected to chair the committee tasked with examining the matter. On 1 June 2026, Gana’s name was catapulted to the forefront of national conversation for good reason.
The man now wielding one of the most consequential gavels in South Africa’s democratic history is a seasoned political operator with a fascinating career spanning student activism, opposition party leadership, and a bold leap into a new political home. Makashule Gana is a South African politician and the chief organiser of Rise Mzansi. He previously served as a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature for the opposition Democratic Alliance.
Growing up in the Village of Lefara in Tzaneen, Limpopo, Gana’s political interest started in the early 1990s, during a period of unrest in many homelands. He was raised in a family where his uncle was an ANC activist, from whom he learned much about the liberation movement. His first real political activism started in 2000 when he enrolled to study at what was then the University of the North, Turfloop campus.
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He holds a BSc degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Limpopo and also earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from Wits Business School in 2012. His academic background, combining hard sciences with business management, reflects the sharp, analytical mind he has brought to politics. Gana’s political journey is one of ideological evolution and consistent civic commitment.
Gana joined the South African Students Congress (SASCO) at the University of Limpopo in 2000, before joining the DA and its Youth wing in 2002. He was elected Limpopo Provincial Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance Students Organization in 2003 and moved to Johannesburg in 2005, where he continued to be very active in the DA and DA Youth. He was previously the leader of the DA Youth and a DA Councillor in the City of Johannesburg.
Between 2014 and 2016, he was a member of the National Assembly, where he served as Shadow Minister of Human Settlements. Gana also served as the Deputy Federal Chairperson of the DA until 2015. In 2019, Gana made a high-profile bid for the DA’s top leadership.
He faced John Steenhuisen for the position of Federal Chairperson on 17 November 2019, but lost to Steenhuisen. Though he did not win that race, the contest confirmed his standing as one of the DA’s most prominent Black leaders, a politician capable of contesting national party leadership. He served as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 15 November 2016 to 4 August 2022, when he resigned from the DA.
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