Kenny Motsamai | |
---|---|
Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces from Gauteng | |
Assumed office 23 May 2019 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Shadrack Doshani 1962/1963(age 60–61) |
Political party | Economic Freedom Fighters (2018–present) Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (Until 2018) |
Spouse | Mantombi Magagula |
Children | 4 (1 deceased) |
Profession | Politician |
Kenny Thabo Motsamai (born Shadrack Doshani, 1962 or 1963) is a South African anti-apartheid activist, convicted murderer and politician. A member of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, he has been a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces from Gauteng since May 2019. Motsamai is a former military commander of the Azanian People's Liberation Army, the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania during apartheid. He was imprisoned for nearly three decades for killing a white traffic officer during a bank robbery in 1989.
Motsamai was born as Shadrack Doshani in the early 1960s. [1] [2] He was a military commander in the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress during apartheid. [3]
In 1989, Motsamai and other PAC combatants robbed a bank in Rustenburg, which was sanctioned by the PAC to help it finance its anti-apartheid activities. [4] During the robbery, the combatants encountered police and Motsamai killed a white traffic officer. Motsamai was arrested for the murder after he returned from military training in Ethiopia. [5] He was later convicted and sentenced to two life sentences in 1989, [6] which was considered a political act by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, however, the offence was later changed to armed robbery which the PAC described as a ploy to not release him. [7] The TRC then refused to give him amnesty, because the crime was not of a political nature. [8] He and the PAC maintained that he was a political prisoner and the party campaigned for his release. [3] [9] Motsamai has refused to apologise or show remorse for the killing of the officer. [4] He said in an interview with DRUM after his release in January 2017: "I won’t apologise for anything, there is no white person that has ever apologised for apartheid.” [10]
On 18 January 2016, Motsamai was set to be released on conditional day parole following a recommendation by the National Council for Correctional Services (NCCS) to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, however, he refused to sign the papers entailing his parole conditions because he did not understand the legal implications of his parole. [11] [12] On 11 July 2016, Motsamai began his six months on day parole. [13] [14] He could leave the Boksburg Correction Centre daily at 8am but he had to return before nightfall. His movements was monitored via a monitoring device and he could not participate in any political activities. [15] The Correctional Supervision and Parole Board granted him full parole on 11 January 2017 with certain conditions, such as his movement still begin monitored, and he was released from prison on the same day. [11] He had spent a total of 27 years and eleven months in prison. [16] [17] He was provided with a low-cost government house in Katlehong and started a car wash with a R40,000 donation pastor Paseka Motsoeneng‚ also known as Prophet Mboro, gave him after his release. [15] [18] The business reportedly collapsed a few months later. [5]
On 9 February 2018, Motsamai was arrested at his house in Katlehong for violating Section 52 (7) of the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998. [5] He had breached the house arrest parole conditions by leaving the Boksburg magisterial district‚ without permission from the Boksburg Community Corrections on 7 February and allegedly lied about going to Hatfield in Pretoria on 8 February to attend to pension matters for his children, when he was allegedly seen addressing a protest at the Department of Military Veterans' headquarters and getting violent with department officials. [19] He had been previously warned not to violate his parole conditions. Motsamai's lawyer, Andries Nkome, denied that there was a protest at the department's headquarters and said that Motsamai was one of 250 military veterans that wanted to get their benefits from the department. Nkome argued that the allegation that he addressed a protest was based on hearsay. [2] On 21 March 2018, Masutha took the decision to revoke Motsamai's parole for failing to adhere to his parole conditions. [20] He did inform Motsamai of his decision to only incarcerate him for three months, which was significantly lower than the 24 months that the Correctional Supervision Board at the Boksburg Correctional Centre had recommended. [21] Motsamai was released from prison in June 2018. [3]
Motsamai left the PAC and joined the Economic Freedom Fighters party in July 2018. [22] During a radio interview with POWER Breakfast, Motsamai said on joining the EFF: "I was with the PAC because it was fighting for the land, but now the EFF is fighting for that, that’s why I am here." [23] Prior to the 2019 general election, EFF leader Julius Malema said that the party would fight the criminal record of Motsamai in order for them to send him to the National Council of Provinces, the upper house of the South African parliament, after the election. [6] After the election, the Gauteng Provincial Legislature elected Motsamai as a permanent delegate to the NCOP. [24]
On 23 May 2019, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who was required by the constitution to oversee the swearing in of new Members of Parliament during the first session of each house, began the proceedings of first sitting of the new NCOP by citing section 106 of the constitution, which prohibits convicted criminals from becoming Members of Parliament and indirectly mentioning Motsamai's past murder conviction and him being out on parole. [25] Mogoeng went on to say: "The starting point says 'anyone who after this section took effect'. On the information at my disposal, the particular delegate was convicted in 1989 and the constitution took effect in 1996. So this section 106 (1)(e) seems not to exclude that delegate." [25] [26] This was met with applause from EFF MPs in the chamber and the public gallery. [27] After his swearing-in, Motsamai appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa to think about improving the wellbeing of military veterans and to grant amnesty to political prisoners who were still serving out sentences in prison. [3]
In September 2019, the African National Congress alleged that Motsamai "verbally abused and almost physically engaged" with ANC MPL and the deputy speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Vuyo Mhlakaza-Manamela during a NCOP programme. The party called for action against Motsamai's “unbecoming behaviour”. [28]
On 7 September 2020, Motsamai was arrested outside a Clicks in Evaton after he was in altercation with police and resisted arrest. He appeared in the Sedibeng Magistrate's Court on charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, and was granted bail. [4] The magistrate's court dismissed the case on 14 September. [29]
Motsamai is married to Mantombi Magagula and they have three biological children. [15] On 29 June 2022, Motsamai's adopted daughter, fourteen-year-old Lindokuhle Makotshi, died in hospital after she was raped and poisoned on 27 June. A 25-year-old man was arrested in connection to the rape and appeared in court. A murder charge will now be added to the charge sheet. [30] [31]
Chris Hani, born Martin Thembisile Hani, was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a fierce opponent of the apartheid government, and was assassinated by Janusz Waluś, a Polish immigrant and sympathiser of the Conservative opposition on 10 April 1993, during the unrest preceding the transition to democracy.
Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.
Prisons in South Africa are run by the Department of Correctional Services. According to the ministry, there are approximately 34,000 employees of the department running 240 prisons. In those prisons are nearly 156,000 inmates as of August 2013. The prisons include minimum, medium and maximum security facilities. Since 2019, the Minister of Correctional Services has been Ronald Lamola.
Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane in South Africa. It is operated by the South African Department of Correctional Services.
General elections were held in South Africa on 7 May 2014, to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures in each province. It was the fifth election held in South Africa under conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994, and also the first held since the death of Nelson Mandela. It was also the first time that South African expatriates were allowed to vote in a South African national election.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African left-wing to far-left pan-Africanist and Marxist–Leninist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013. Malema is President of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team which serves as the central structure of the party. It is currently the third-largest party in both houses of the South African Parliament.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is a South African political party, formed in November 2013 by, among others, businessman Gayton McKenzie, and by socialite Kenny Kunene, a former English teacher turned businessman.
Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others; Democratic Alliance v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others [2016] ZACC 11 is a major judgment of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which finds that President Jacob Zuma breached the South African Constitution by failing to implement the recommendations in the Public Protector's Nkandla report.
Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi MP is a South African politician and political activist. He has been a Member of the National Assembly, representing the Economic Freedom Fighters, since 2014. He also served as the first official spokesperson for the party until his resignation in 2020. He was replaced as party spokesperson by fellow member of the Economic Freedom Fighters, youth activist Vuyani Pambo.
General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.
A presidential election was held in the National Assembly in South Africa on 15 February 2018 following the resignation of Jacob Zuma on 14 February. Acting president Cyril Ramaphosa of the ruling African National Congress won the election unopposed due to no other party nominating a candidate. Ramaphosa was sworn-in by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at 5pm, 15 February 2018.
Mondli Gungubele is a South African politician, trade union leader and educator who is the current Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies and a member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the African National Congress. He previously served as Executive Mayor of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (2010–2016), as Deputy Minister of Finance (2018–2019), as Chairperson of the Social Development Committee (2019–2021) and as Minister in the Presidency (2021–2023).
Chris Hani, General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), was assassinated by right-wing extremist Janusz Waluś on 10 April 1993. The assassination, later tied to members within the Conservative Party, occurred outside Hani's home in Dawn Park during a peak period of progressive anti-apartheid momentum in South Africa. After the assassination, racially fuelled riots drew international attention to the instability of the political division within South Africa, leading to an inclusive national democratic election in April 1994, won by the African National Congress (ANC). Assassin Janusz Waluś and accomplice Clive Derby-Lewis were sentenced to death after their arrest in 1993, however this sentencing was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Thembinkosi Tevin Apleni is a South African politician who has been serving as a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces since May 2019. He is one of six permanent delegates from the Eastern Cape. Apleni is a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and serves as the party's deputy provincial chairperson. He was previously the party's provincial secretary.
Mzwanele Nyhontso is a South African politician who is the president of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. He is also a member of the National Assembly of South Africa.
Tania Lynette Campbell is a South African Democratic Alliance politician who served as the Mayor of Ekurhuleni twice, from November 2021 until her removal in a motion of no confidence in October 2022 and again from November 2022 until her removal in a second a motion of no confidence in March 2023.
Events in the year 2022 in South Africa.
The Boksburg explosion took place on 24 December 2022, when a fuel tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exploded underneath a railway bridge in Boksburg, in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, with a death toll of 41 people as of 18 January 2023. The nearby Tambo Memorial Hospital was also damaged.
Mohammed Dangor is a South African politician, diplomat and anti-apartheid activist who has been a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces since June 2019. He is a member of the Gauteng provincial delegation representing the African National Congress. Dangor had previously served as South Africa's ambassador to Libya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
Tebogo Josephine Mokwele is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly of South Africa from May to August 2019 as a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters party. Prior to serving in the National Assembly, Mokwele had been a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces from the North West from 2014 to 2019.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)