Kheswa, who hails from Botshabelo’s E-section, said his interest for the profession began while he was in high school, where he was involved in the Youth Parliament debates with regards to the legislature where he and his peers debated on a number of issues. “From there, with the encouragement of my teachers, who in retrospect probably saw something in me, I decided that I wanted to study law,” Kheswa said.
He then registered with Vista University in 2003 and when Vista merged with the University of the Free State, he was able to receive his LLB qualification in 2006. “For me, it was always about helping the disadvantaged and the marginalised, who, when they have legal issues, in most cases do not know what to do or where to go. So immediately after university, in 2007, I joined the Human Rights Commission,” he said.

While in the commission, Kheswa said he developed a love for human rights and how people’s lives improve through cases handled by the commission. Kheswa decided in 2008 that he wanted to be an admitted attorney at the High Court so he would be able to deal with Human Rights issues on a larger scale, but at the time, the commission was not able to provide him with a platform where he could complete his articles. He then had to join Legal Aid for his articles, another entity he said made him realise the importance of the work he wanted to do as it also dealt with providing free legal services to residents who would otherwise not be able to afford them.

In 2010, he was admitted as an attorney of the High Court and in 2013, he returned to his first love, being the SARC as a Senior Legal Services Officer in the Eastern Cape. “There I found that the lives of people, particularly in rural areas, were worse off. I had to find ways to apply the law and place pressure on the government with regards to service delivery issues,” Kheswa said.

Upon accepting the offer of Provincial Manager in the Free State, Kheswa said it was important to him to go back to the province where his love for human rights issues began and use his expertise to deal with most important issues in the province.
He said the top priority for him was dealing with the water and sanitation issue in the province, which, he said, if he accomplished, he believed the mandate of the SAHRC in the province would be fulfilled.

Other issues high on his list he aims to tackle, include dealing with children unrecognised by the state, issues of racism and intolerance as well as illegal evictions. Joining Kheswa in dealing with these issues are Shirley Mlombo, Senior Legal Officer; Neo Tsikwane, Advocacy and Research Officer; Naledi Morojele, Provincial Human Rights Officer and Tsoane Khoarai, Legal Officer at the commission. The group spoke at a media briefing held at the commission’s offices in Bloemfontein on Thursday, 08 February. The briefing was meant to introduce Kheswa to the media and members of the public as the new provincial manager, to report back on issues the commision dealt with in the past as well as its fiscal plans from now until 2020.

Source: Bloemfontein Courant