Minhaj joined MVC in 2021. If you happen to join him on a Zoom meeting, you’ll probably need to speak over the voices of his two boundaryless little kids.

His interests are in participatory democracy, popular education and political alternatives.

He is also a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Fellowship on Racial Equity and has worked in the social justice sector for 10-ish years. Before MVC, he was the National Coordinator of the Fight Inequality Alliance – a growing alliance of social movements and NGOs organising in 30 countries.

Joel joined MVC in 2018 and his current focus area is Money in Politics. Since MVC was founded in 2012, much of its work has been to understand the impact of money in politics and to advocate for and then strengthen political funding legislation. In 2025, he will be leading MVC’s litigation challenging the Political Funding Act and will conduct research to propose a model for the funding of South Africa’s politics. His previous work at MVC has focused on intra-party democracy in South African political parties and the impact on its democracy and governance.

Boikanyo Moloto is the Political Systems Researcher at My Vote Counts. She holds an MA in Industrial Sociology (Cum Laude). Her academic interests include gender studies, violence and conflict, strengthening legislatures and capacity, labour law, and the lived experiences of workers.

Boikanyo was previously affiliated to the Centre for Social Change. She continued her career as a Researcher and Young Emerging Evaluator (YEE) at the Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results – Anglophone Africa, later serving as Research Co-ordinator and representing the organisation on the African Parliamentarians’ Network on Development Evaluation (APNODE) Executive Committee.

Keamogetswe Seipato is a social justice activist and feminist. She is extremely passionate about deconstructing systems of oppression, questioning everything, grappling with anything, and changing society as a whole. Sharing and creating information and knowledge with those who are affected by how the political economy of the world and Southern Africa works, coupled with inspiration for establishing the means to tackle patriarchal capitalism is a key element of her activism.

Nosiphelo Mahola is self-driven and passionate about working with finances. She has been working in the financial administration environment since 2011 and her years of working have made her a team player and a game changer. She has several qualifications in finance and business and is currently completing her Bachelor in Business Administration.

When not working she enjoys reading books on African literature, long-distance running, and hiking mountain trails to discover hidden gems.

Lauren holds a BSocSc LLB (UCT) and an MSc in Political Theory (LSE). She is interested in democratic theory and praxis, South African politics, social and critical theory, political organization, and capitalist critique. Prior to completing her MSc and joining MVC, she practiced as a commercial litigation attorney.

She hopes to use her time at MVC to conduct socially impactful research that fosters grassroots civic empowerment and engagement, strengthens democratic institutions, and contributes in some small way to achieving a more egalitarian and just South Africa. 

Elisha Kunene joined MVC in September 2024. He is a recovering lawyer and a fully rehabilitated competitive debater. His interests are in participatory democracy, deliberative systems, constitutional design, electoral law, public education, progressive organising and distributive justice. His early work at MVC focuses on coalitions, internal party democracy, governance, and electoral law.

He holds a BSocSc LLB (UKZN). Before moving to Cape Town, he completed 3 judicial clerkships and trained under the Land Rights and Dispute Resolution team of Richard Spoor Inc. He still podcasts about judicial administration in his spare time.