18 Facts About Dakota Legoete

Molefi David "Dakota" Legoete was born on 1 June 1972 and is a South African politician and political strategist from the North West.

Dakota Legoete represents the African National Congress in the National Assembly, where he is chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans.

Dakota Legoete has been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee since December 2017.

Dakota Legoete worked full-time at the ANC's headquarters at Luthuli House before he was elected to the National Assembly in the May 2024 general election.

Dakota Legoete was formerly the municipal manager at Tswaing Local Municipality in Sannieshof in the North West, but was suspended in 2009 when he was implicated in a corruption scandal.

Dakota Legoete was still challenging his suspension in court in 2011 when he was elected as a local councillor in Tlokwe Local Municipality in the area around Potchefstroom.

Dakota Legoete represented the African National Congress in the municipal council and by 2013 was the party's Chief Whip in the council.

On 25 November 2013, Dakota Legoete was elected as the Provincial Secretary of the ANC's North West branch.

Dakota Legoete replaced Kabelo Mataboge, who had been suspended from the party, and won the position in a vote against acting secretary Gordon Kegakilwe, who received 169 votes against Legoete's 205.

The Provincial Secretary position was a full-time post based out of the ANC's provincial headquarters at Mphekwa House in Mafikeng and Dakota Legoete vacated his seat in the Tlokwe council in order to take it up.

However, when the conference was held in February 2015, Dakota Legoete was re-elected unopposed to a full four-year term in the office.

At the ANC's 54th National Conference, which was held in December 2017 and which elected Ramaphosa as party president, Dakota Legoete was elected for the first time to the party's National Executive Committee.

In February 2018, the ANC announced that Dakota Legoete would be employed full-time at Luthuli House, the party's national headquarters in Johannesburg, as deputy head of the organising department; in that capacity he deputised Senzo Mchunu and worked closely with the office of ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule.

Dakota Legoete vacated the ANC's North West secretariat to take up the national party position.

Dakota Legoete had reportedly been Magashule's preferred choice for Mchunu's position, while Mchunu's appointment was pushed by supporters of Ramaphosa.

Indeed, Dakota Legoete became known as a prominent political ally of Magashule, including during Magashule's efforts to contest his suspension from the ANC in 2021.

In that month, at the ANC's 55th National Conference, Dakota Legoete was re-elected to a second five-year term on the NEC; by number of votes received, he was ranked 61st of the 80 candidates elected, receiving 1,111 votes across the 4,029 ballots cast in total.

Dakota Legoete was elected to chair the assembly's Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans.