Natasha Mazzone

Mazzone is the child of immigrant parents and was born in Pretoria South Africa.[1] Her father Giovanni was born in Pietrastornina in the Province of Avellino in Italy and is a chef. Her mother Valerie was born in London, England. Mazzone is the youngest of three children. She attended Sunnyside Primary School and The Glen High School.[2]

Mazzone studied for a law degree from the University of Pretoria but did not complete the degree. She completed her legal articles at Hahn & Hahn Attorneys. Mazzone studied music and opera at the Lorraine Haverman school of music. In 2010 Mazzone was selected to attend the American Council of Young Political Leaders program.[3]

Mazzone is a feminist advocate for equal rights, LGBTI activist and a liberal.[4] She started her political career in 1997 at the University of Pretoria (UP) where she was the chairperson of the Democratic Party (DP) Youth branch.[1] In 1998, she was elected as the National Federal Youth Leader of the DP. In the same year, she was elected to the Student Representative Council at UP and was the Executive member for Student Safety. In 1999, Mazzone was elected as the Speaker of the UP SRC. In 2000, the Democratic Alliance (DA) was formed and the DP formed part of this merger. She was then elected as the National Federal Youth Leader of the DA, a position she held until 2004.[4]

In 2000, Mazzone stood for election as a city councillor in the Tshwane Metro. She was elected in December and at age 21, she was the youngest councillor in the municipality.[4] In 2003, the DA caucus in the Metro elected Mazzone to the position of Chief Whip of the Official Opposition and she held this position until her election to Parliament in May 2009.[5]

Mazzone was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 6 May 2009. She was first made the Shadow Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development by Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip.[4] During Trollip's first Shadow cabinet reshuffle, Mazzone was made the Shadow Minister of Communications.[6] She held this position until newly-elected Parliamentary Leader Lindiwe Mazibuko appointed her to the position of Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises.[4][7]

Mazzone represents the Democratic Alliance on the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament, the Disciplinary Committee, and the Rules Committee. Formerly a member of both the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises and the Portfolio Committee on Communications, she was also the party whip in charge of legislation before her appointment as chief whip.[8]

Mazzone has also been involved in the provincial politics of Gauteng. She was elected as one of three deputy provincial chairpersons of the Democratic Alliance in October 2009.[9] In April 2010, she ran for Provincial Leader of the DA. She faced former DA MP Janet Semple and incumbent John Moodey. Mazzone was eliminated in the first round and Semple went on to narrowly win the election.[10]

At the DA's 2018 Federal Congress, Mazzone was elected as the second Deputy Federal Council Chairperson of the party. She served alongside Thomas Walters.[11][12] Her election was initially disputed by Khume Ramulifho, who also contested the position, and other senior DA politicians. Ramulifho argued that her taking up the position was "illegal" since the position was not yet created when the election was held.[13] The party's Federal Legal Commission had taken the decision to appoint her since she received the second most votes.[14] The party later resolved the matter.[15]

On 31 October 2019, Mazzone was appointed Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, succeeding John Steenhuisen, who was elected Leader of the Opposition. She is the party's first female chief whip.[16][17][18] In 2020, she stood down as a deputy federal council chairperson.[19]

She is a Buddhist; she married fellow Democratic Alliance MP Kevin Mileham in July 2017.

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