Sheila Peters | |
|---|---|
| Member of the National Assembly of South Africa | |
| Assumed office 12 June 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Evangeline Freeman |
| Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature | |
| In office 14 June 2024 – June 2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1972-03-24)24 March 1972 (age 53) |
| Party | Patriotic Alliance |
| Spouse | Buchanan Peters |
Sheila Mary Peters (born 24 March 1972), also spelledShyla Peters, is a South African politician fromGauteng. A member of thePatriotic Alliance, she served as the province'sMember of the Executive Council (MEC) for Environment from July 2024 until June 2025. She joined theGauteng Executive Council andGauteng Provincial Legislature after theMay 2024 provincial election and was formerly a community activist inReiger Park.
Peters was born on 24 March 1972[1] inEersterust, atownship outsidePretoria, where she attended school.[2] She spent most of her adult life inReiger Park on theEast Rand (Ekurhuleni), where she worked in various administrative and sales positions in the private sector, including as a data capturer forFNB.[2] After she was retrenched in 2007, she founded a local transport and tourism company.[3]
Peters entered politics informally as a community activist in the Reiger Park Community Forum, a civic group dedicated to neighborhood problems likecable theft, power outages, substance abuse, and poverty.[2][3] Ahead of theAugust 2021 local elections, she and other forum members collaborated with thePatriotic Alliance (PA), a national political party, as supporters of the PA's successful campaign to elect Edith Klaasen as ward councillor in Reiger Park.[2][3] Thereafter Peters became regional treasurer of the PA's Ekurhuleni branch.[2]
Inthe next provincial election in May 2024, Peters was one of two PA candidates elected to theGauteng Provincial Legislature; she was ranked sixth on the PA's provincial party list.[4] Gauteng premierPanyaza Lesufi of theAfrican National Congress (ANC) appointed her to theGauteng Executive Council in July after the PA agreed to support an ANC-led minority government in the provincial legislature.[5][6] She was namedMember of the Executive Council (MEC) for Environment, a newly created position.[3] Peters resigned from the provincial government and provincial legislature and was succeeded byEwan Botha.[7]
Her husband, Buchanan Peters, had a long career atEskom before he entered the private sector to run construction businesses.[2] They have two adult children, a son and a daughter.[2]
The family moved from Reiger Park toBoksburg West shortly before the 2024 election.[2] Peters owns nine houses in Gauteng, spread across Reiger Park, Boksburg,Brakpan, and Pretoria.[8]