Mzwanele Nyhontso | |
---|---|
Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development | |
Assumed office 3 July 2024 | |
President | Cyril Ramaphosa |
Deputy | Chupu Stanley Mathabatha |
Preceded by | Thoko Didiza |
Member of the National Assembly of South Africa | |
Assumed office 2 September 2021 | |
Preceded by | Bennet Joko |
In office 22 May 2019 –23 June 2021 | |
Succeeded by | Bennet Joko |
Personal details | |
Born | 08 September 1973 |
Political party | Pan Africanist Congress of Azania |
Mzwanele Nyhontso (born 8 September 1973) is a South African politician who is the president of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania,and a member of the National Assembly of South Africa. Since July 2024 he is the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development in the cabinet of the country's Government of National Unity. [1]
In December 2018,Nyhontso was elected leader of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. His leadership has been marred by infighting between factions in the party and leadership challenges. His leadership is disputed by Narius Moloto,who was elected PAC leader at a different elective congress earlier in 2018. [2]
In May 2019 Nyhontso was elected to the National Assembly as the PAC's only MP. In June 2019 he became a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence,the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education,Science and Technology,the Portfolio Committee on Environment,Forestry and Fisheries,the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy,and the Disciplinary Committee. [3]
Nyhontso was re-elected as PAC leader in September 2019,while another faction re-elected Moloto as leader in August 2019. [4] Nyhontso was officially recognised by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as the legitimate leader of the PAC,but it is still disputed by Moloto and his faction. [5]
In November 2020,Nyhontso's parliamentary membership was suspended by speaker Thandi Modise after the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the 2019 decision by the Moloto's faction to expel him could only be set aside by a court of law. [6] Nyhontso then approached the Western Cape High Court and it ordered his reinstatement as a Member of Parliament in the interim on 3 December 2020,pending a decision of the Court regarding the challenge of his recent removal by his party. [7] In February 2021,the High Court dismissed an application by Moloto's faction for leave to appeal an interim ruling that reinstated Nyhontso as the party's single representative in the National Assembly with costs. [8] Nyhontso's application to reinstate him as a Member of Parliament was set aside in May 2021. He then sought to appeal the ruling. [8]
On 23 June 2021,he lost his parliamentary membership again. Bennet Joko was sworn in to replace him. [9] The North Gauteng High Court officially recognised Nyhontso as the legitimate leader of the PAC on 23 August 2021,however,the judgement was based on a technicality due to Moloto's notice of appeal of an earlier ruling not being received by the court's registrar. The court declared Moloto's election in August 2019 invalid. [10] Nyhontso's confirmation as president allowed him to return his seat in the National Assembly and he was sworn in on 2 September 2021,replacing Joko. [11]
In 2024,Nyhontso was again the sole PAC elected MP. He joined the Government of National Unity as Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development after the ANC lost its majority in parliament. [12]
On 19 June 2024 the PAC announced that it would join the Government of National Unity [13] (GNU) following the 2024 South African general election,held in on 29 May 2024 to elect a new National Assembly. [14] The election resulted in the ANC party losing its parliamentary majority,followed by the discussions about forming a GNU through a grand coalition. The discussions were initially lead by the ANC and the Democratic Alliance.
On 30 June 2024 ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the PAC signed the GNU Statement of Intent,and announced that Nyhontso will the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development. [15] [16]
On 3 July 2024,Nyhontso was sworn in as minister as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa's third cabinet. [1]
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania,often shortened to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC),is a South African pan-Africanist national liberation movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group,led by Robert Sobukwe,that broke away from the African National Congress (ANC) in 1959,as the PAC objected to the ANC's theory that "the land belongs to all who live in it both white and black" and also rejected a multiracialist worldview,instead advocating a South Africa based on African nationalism.
Patricia de Lille is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and leader of the political party Good. She served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023.
The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa,located in Cape Town,Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation system where half of the members are elected proportionally from nine provincial lists and the remaining half from national lists so as to restore proportionality.
The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the president,the deputy president,and the ministers.
The African National Congress (ANC) has been the governing party of the Republic of South Africa since 1994. The ANC was founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein and is the oldest liberation movement in Africa.
This article covers the history of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania,once a South African liberation movement and now a minor political party.
Matsie Angelina "Angie" Motshekga is a South African politician and educator who is currently serving as the Minister of Defense and Military Veterans since 3 July 2024. She served as the acting president of the Republic of South Africa from the 17th August 2024,while President Cyril Ramaphosa attended the 44th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community in Harare,Zimbabwe. Motshekga also served as the Minister of Basic Education from May 2009 to 2024. She was previously a Member of the Executive Council in the Gauteng provincial government. Motshekga is a member of the African National Congress. She is a former president of the party's women's league.
Cassel Mathale is a South African politician who was the third Premier of Limpopo between March 2009 and July 2013. He is currently the Deputy Minister of Police in the South African government and before that was Deputy Minister of Small Business Development from February 2018 to May 2019.
Mkhacani Joseph Maswanganyi is a South African politician from Limpopo Province. He represents the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly,where he is the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance. He was formerly the Minister of Transport from March 2017 to February 2018.
Mondli Gungubele is a South African politician and trade unionist who is the current Deputy 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).
Good is a South African social democratic political party that was formed in December 2018.
General elections were held in South Africa on 29 May 2024 to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces. This was the 7th general election held under the conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994. The new National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will be elected at the first sitting of each provincial legislature.
Siviwe Gwarube is a South African politician who is currently serving as Minister of Basic Education in the Government of National Unity (GNU) since July 2024. A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA),she was the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition between August 2022 and June 2024. She joined the National Assembly of South Africa in the May 2019 general election.
Leon Amos Schreiber is a South African writer and politician who is currently serving as Minister of Home Affairs since 3 July 2024. A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA),he has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2019.
Mervyn Alexander Dirks is a South African politician who served as a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from June 2023 until February 2024. A former member of the African National Congress,he previously served as a member of the National Assembly from May 2014 to January 2023.
Tshilidzi Bethuel Munyai is a South African politician who was elected as an African National Congress Member of the National Assembly of South Africa in 2019. In August 2021,Munyai served as the acting chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health. He resigned from Parliament in January 2023 and was subsequently sworn in as a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
Nokuzola Gladys Tolashe,also known as Sisisi "Sisi" Tolashe,is a South African politician from the Eastern Cape. She is the current Minister of Social Development since June 2024. She was also elected as president of the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League in July 2023. In government,Tolashe was the Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women,Youth and Persons with Disabilities from March 2023 to 30 June 2024.
Bennet Joko is a South African politician who was briefly a Member of 27th South African Parliament from June to August 2021. He is the Deputy President of the Moloto faction of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). His installation in,and removal from,the PAC's parliamentary seat was part of a factional struggle with Mzwanele Nyhontso's side of the party.
The Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa,also referred to as the Government of National Unity (GNU),was formed following the election of Ramaphosa to a second full term as President of South Africa following the 2024 general election. His party,the African National Congress (ANC),lost its absolute majority in the parliamentary election and was reduced to a plurality in the National Assembly. Following the election,the parties engaged in negotiations on forming a coalition government. On 14 June 2024,the ANC,the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other members of the DA-led Multi-Party Charter,Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Good,agreed to form a landmark national unity government,with Cyril Ramaphosa being re-elected President of South Africa. This marks the first time the ANC has had to govern without an absolute majority since the end of apartheid in 1994.