Maliyakhe Lymon Shelembe is a South African politician. Shelembe was an Inkatha Freedom Party member until 2011. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2014 as a member of the National Freedom Party. Shelembe became a Democratic Alliance MP after the 2019 elections.
He was elected as a ward councillor for the Inkatha Freedom Party in 2001.[1] Later that year, he was elected Deputy Mayor of the Umtshezi Local Municipality.[1] He eventually became mayor of the municipality.[1]
The African National Congress won control of the municipality in 2004 and Shelembe became an ordinary council member. In 2007, he returned to the position of mayor.[2] In 2011, he joined the newly created National Freedom Party and was elected as deputy mayor of the Uthukela District Municipality after that year's municipal elections.[2] He was elected the party's national chairperson in December 2011.[3][4]
Shelembe was elected to the National Assembly in 2014.[5] In March 2019, he became a member of the Democratic Alliance and returned to parliament after the general elections in May that year.[6][7] In June 2019, he was appointed as shadow deputy minister of Defence and Military Veterans.[8] Shelembe remained in the position following John Steenhuisen's election as parliamentary leader.[9]
Shelembe was re-elected to the National Assembly in the 2024 general election.[10]
