Mokone Collen Maine (born 26 September 1980) is a South African politician who has been the Deputy Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature since October 2024.
Before his election to the Youth League presidency, Maine represented the ANC in the National Council of Provinces from 2009 to 2013 and in the North West Provincial Legislature from 2013 to 2015.
[6][7] In June 2013,[3][8] he was appointed a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) in the provincial government of North West Premier Thandi Modise; his portfolio was social development and women, children and people with disabilities.
[17] Maine's age attracted media interest, given the Youth League's rule that only persons under 35 were eligible for membership and leadership positions: he insisted that he was "34.5" at the time of the conference.
[18][19][20][21][22] His MEC position also attracted interest, since the Youth League presidency is typically a full-time job based out of Luthuli House, the ANC's headquarters in Johannesburg.
After his election, Maine initially signalled his willingness to resign from the North West government, but in October he reversed his position; the league's newly elected provincial secretary, Njabulo Nzuza, said the Youth League's national executive committee had decided that the presidency would no longer be a full-time position and that Maine could hold retain his MEC post simultaneously.
[27] Maine also publicly supported some of Zuma's left-wing populist policy proposals, particularly free higher education and an assault on so-called "white monopoly capital".
[31] Maine subsequently appeared to temper his pro-Zuma activism;[32] he publicly pledged the league's loyalty to Ramaphosa as ANC president.
[31] As president of the Youth League, Maine automatically became an ex officio member of the ANC National Executive Committee, the party's top decision-making body; at the 54th National Conference in December 2017, he was directly elected onto the committee for a five-year term, receiving the votes of 1,572 of the 4,283 delegates who submitted ballot papers.
[11] He was sworn in on 22 May 2019 and became a member of the portfolio committee on public service and administration; despite speculation to the contrary, he was not appointed to Ramaphosa's cabinet.
[45] Maine was, however, elected as the deputy speaker of the North West provincial legislature on 11 October 2024, succeeding Tshepo Khoza, who had resigned following allegations that he forged his matric certificate.
[49][50] In April 2018, during a speech at a memorial service for ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Maine admitted that he had met the Guptas at their home.
[2] Investigating allegations of state capture under Zuma's administration, the Zondo Commission found that Zuma supporters within the State Security Agency had set up a VIP protection unit in the agency's Special Operations division, technically usurping a function of the South African Police Service.