Gabriel Ndabandaba | |
---|---|
Member of the National Assembly | |
In office 6 May 2009 –6 May 2014 | |
Constituency | KwaZulu-Natal |
In office June 1999 –27 June 2001 | |
Constituency | KwaZulu-Natal |
KwaZulu-Natal Legislature | |
In office July 2001 –May 2009 | |
Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs | |
In office April 2004 –1 November 2006 | |
Premier | S'bu Ndebele |
Succeeded by | Mtholephi Mthimkhulu |
Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Education | |
In office 6 July 2001 –24 March 2003 | |
Premier | Lionel Mtshali |
Preceded by | Faith Gasa |
Personal details | |
Born | 14 April 1935 |
Citizenship | South Africa |
Political party | African National Congress (since March 2003) |
Other political affiliations | Inkatha Freedom Party (until March 2003) |
Children | 8,including Gabriel Siyabonga Ndabandaba (d. 2005) |
Lindumusa Bekizitha Gabriel Ndabandaba (born 14 April 1935) is a retired South African politician and academic who served in the National Assembly and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1999 to 2014. He represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) until 2003,when he crossed the floor to the African National Congress (ANC).
Formerly a criminology professor in KwaZulu-Natal,Ndabandaba joined the National Assembly in 1999 as a member of the IFP. He left the national Parliament in June 2001 to join the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council,where he served under Premier Lionel Mtshali as KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education from 2001 to 2003. Citing his frustration with Mtshali,Ndabandaba crossed the floor to the ANC in March 2003.
As a representative of the ANC,Ndabandaba served under Premier S'bu Ndebele as MEC for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs from 2004 to 2006 and as Deputy Speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2006 to 2009. In 2009,he concluded his eight-year service in the provincial legislature and returned to the National Assembly,where he served a single term for the ANC. He failed to gain re-election in the 2014 general election.
Ndabandaba was born on 14 April 1935. [1] A former high school teacher,he was a lecturer in criminology at the University of Zululand before becoming vice-principal of student affairs at Mangosuthu Technikon. [2] [3]
In the 1999 general election,Ndabandaba was elected to represent the IFP in the National Assembly,the lower house of the South African Parliament;he served the KwaZulu-Natal constituency. [1] However,just over two years into the legislative term,media reported that Ndabandaba was expected to leave Parliament for the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature:KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali was reportedly considering him as a candidate to replace Faith Gasa as Education MEC. [2] Ndabandaba resigned from his parliamentary seat on 27 June 2001. [4]
On 6 July 2001,Ndabandaba was sworn in as KwaZulu-Natal's MEC for Education. [5] He said that his priorities in the portfolio would be improving matriculation results,raising teachers' morale,and "restoring dignity to the department" after the controversies presided over by his predecessors. [6]
During the floor-crossing window of March 2003,Ndabandaba announced his defection from the IFP to the ANC,which at the time was in opposition in KwaZulu-Natal. Ndabandaba said that his departure was motivated in large part by the conduct of Premier Mtshali,who he said had "humiliated me every step of the way",preventing him from making decisions about the education portfolio and even from hiring staff at his office. [7] [8] In a statement,he said:
It is with great relief that I announce that my body has joined my soul. I have decided to follow my conscience. I have joined the ranks of those who,when we were naked among the wolves,decided to stand up against the apartheid colonial tyranny... My humiliation,harassment and the stifling of all my creativity and initiatives by Mtshali were the final straw that broke the camel's back. I have taken such a decision not only because of my personal humiliation by Mtshali who has caused many people to lose political direction in the party –the IFP as a whole has lost political direction. [8]
Later the same day,24 March,Mtshali said that he had fired Ndabandaba as Education MEC, [7] although he would continue to hold his seat in the legislature under the ANC banner. The ANC said that Mtshali's decision to fire him was "irresponsible" and demonstrated that "the IFP is handling education in a reckless manner in this province". [9]
At the end of the floor-crossing window,the ANC,newly wielding a plurality in the provincial legislature,said that it would table a motion of no-confidence in Mtshali if he did not reinstate Ndabandaba as Education MEC,as well as reinstate two other ANC ministers –Dumisani Makhaye and Mike Mabuyakhulu –who had been fired from the Executive Council in late 2003. [10] Mtshali agreed to reappoint two ANC members to his Executive Council but said that he would not accept Ndabandaba back,given that Ndabandaba had crossed the floor "on account of his incapability or unwillingness to work with me". [11]
A year later,in the 2004 general election,the ANC won control of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature and Ndabandaba was re-elected to his seat. The ANC's S'bu Ndebele,who succeeded Mtshali as Premier,appointed Ndabandaba to his Executive Council as MEC for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs. [12] He served in the portfolio for just over two years before Ndebele sacked him in a cabinet reshuffle announced on 1 November 2006. [13] He was replaced as MEC by Mtholephi Mthimkhulu and served the rest of the term as Deputy Speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature,deputising Willies Mchunu. [14]
In the 2009 general election,Ndabandaba returned to the National Assembly,again serving the KwaZulu-Natal constituency but now under the banner of the ANC. [15] Mtholephi Mthimkhulu succeeded him as provincial deputy speaker. [16] He stood for re-election to Parliament in the next general election in 2014,but he was ranked 197th on the ANC's national party list and did not secure a seat. [3]
Ndabandaba is married and had eight children. [6] One of his sons,Gabriel Siyabonga Ndabandaba,was South Africa's first black aerobatics pilot,a former lieutenant in the South African Air Force,and a commercial pilot for South African Airways. He died in September 2005 while performing a stunt at an airshow in Vereeniging,in an accident that received wide media coverage. [17] [18]
In 2009,the KwaZulu-Natal government sued Ndabandaba and two officials who worked under him at the agriculture department;the government claimed that the department had contravened the Public Finance Management Act by spending R126,500 in public funds on Ndabandaba's son's funeral at the Durban International Convention Centre in 2005. Ndabandaba said that the officials had offered him help securing a venue for the funeral but that he had not instructed the department to pay for the event. [19]
Edward Senzo Mchunu is a South African politician currently serving as Minister of Police since 30 June 2024. A member of the African National Congress (ANC),he has been a cabinet minister since May 2019. He was formerly the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal between 22 August 2013 and 23 May 2016.
Sihle Zikalala is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023,representing the African National Congress. He was Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from March 2023 to June 2024. Before his redeployment to the national government,he had been the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal and a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
Nomusa Dube-Ncube is a South African politician and former diplomat who was the 9th Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from August 2022 to June 2024. A member of the African National Congress,she is the first woman to hold the office. She was succeeded by Thami Ntuli.
Kwazikwenkosi Innocent Mshengu is a South African lawyer and African National Congress politician who served as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education in KwaZulu-Natal until 11 August 2022 when he was replaced with Mbali Frazer by the new KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube. He served as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from May 2019 until February 2023. Mshengu is the provincial chairperson of the African National Congress Youth League.
Siboniso Armstrong Duma is a South African politician who is the provincial chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal. He is also Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Transport and Human Settlements in the KwaZulu-Natal government.
Lionel Percival Hercules Mbeki Mtshali was a South African politician who was Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1999 to 2004. He was known for unilaterally ordering the expansion of the province's antiretrovirals programme during the HIV/AIDS epidemic,in defiance of the policy of the national government under President Thabo Mbeki. A founding member and former chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party,Mtshali was also national Minister of Arts,Culture,Science and Technology in the government of President Nelson Mandela from 1996 to 1999.
The Executive Council of KwaZulu-Natal is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature by the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal,an office held since May 2024 by Thami Ntuli of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Richard Themba Mthembu is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 2009 until 2024. He was formerly KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council for Agriculture and Rural Development from June 2016 to May 2019. He has also served as Provincial Secretary of the South African Communist Party in KwaZulu-Natal since 2002.
Weziwe Gcotyelwa Thusi is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature and KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council until 2019. Most prominently,she was KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development from 2011 to 2019. She later served as Speaker of the eThekweni Metropolitan Council from 2019 until 2021,when she resigned from politics.
Michael Mabuyakhulu is a South African politician and former trade unionist who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature between 1994 and 2016. He also served for seventeen years in the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council,most prominently as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development and Tourism from 2009 to 2016.
Ndodephethe Bethuel Mthethwa is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature since 2019. He was formerly the Mayor of Jozini Local Municipality.
Mthandeni Eric Dlungwana,also spelled Dlungwane,is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature between 2011 and 2019. He was formerly KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education from 2016 to 2019 under Premier Willies Mchunu.
Bonginkosi Meshack Radebe is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature until May 2019. He was formerly Deputy Speaker in the legislature and also served as a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) in KwaZulu-Natal from 2009 to 2014. He was known for his role in mediating the political violence between the ANC and Inkatha in Mpumalanga,KwaZulu-Natal in the 1990s.
Mtholephi Emmanuel Mthimkhulu was a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 1999 until his death in 2015. Formerly a teacher and journalist,he served as KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and before that as Chief Whip in the legislature from 2004 to 2006.
Lydia Johnson is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature until 2019. She was the legislature's Speaker from 2013 to 2019 and previously served in the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council between 2006 and 2011:she was KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Public Works from 2006 to 2009 and MEC for Agriculture,Environmental Affairs and Rural Development from 2009 to 2011. In June 2022,she was appointed board chairperson at Ezemvelo.
Faith Xolile Gasa is a South African politician who was KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education and Culture from August 2000 to June 2001. She represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1995 and in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 1995 until her death in 2005. A teacher by profession,she was also a former chairperson of the IFP Women's Brigade.
Eileen Eidana Nkosi-Shandu was a South African politician who served as Deputy Minister of Public Works in the South African Government of National Unity from 1996 to 1999. From 1999 to 2000,she was KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education,until she was sacked in a nepotism scandal.