Rose Sonto | |
---|---|
Member of the National Assembly | |
In office 3 February 2010 –6 May 2014 | |
In office 23 April 2004 –May 2009 | |
Personal details | |
Citizenship | South Africa |
Political party | African National Congress |
Mzunani Roseberry "Rose" Sonto is a retired South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist. He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2014,excepting a hiatus from 2009 to 2010. He previously represented the party in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature.
Sonto was active in student politics in the Eastern Cape in the 1960s,at first primarily through organs of the Black Consciousness Movement. [1] While living in Cape Town in the early 1980s,he became president of the Cape Youth Congress,and he was later active in the United Democratic Front. [1] [2] He was detained several times for political offences during the 1980s, [2] and in 1990 he was a member of the reception committee that made arrangements for Nelson Mandela's release from prison;Sonto drive the car that carried Mandela away from Victor Verster Prison. [2] [3]
After the end of apartheid in 1994,Sonto represented the ANC in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and was also chairperson of the Western Cape branch of the South African National Civic Organisation. [2]
Sonto was elected to an ANC seat in the National Assembly in the 2004 general election. [4] Though he was not immediately re-elected in 2009,he was sworn back in on 3 February 2010 to fill a casual vacancy. [5] He served in the seat until the next general election in 2014, [1] after which he retired. [2]
During his term,he sat as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources,and he caused a minor stir in 2012 by saying that the committee would not visit the site of the Marikana massacre,where striking mineworkers had been killed,because,"We can't go and talk to a crowd with suicidal tendencies". [6] He later withdrew his remark and apologised. [6]
In later years,Sonto occasionally attracted media attention because of his campaign to have the government pay him a special pension,allowed in terms of South African law to individuals "who made sacrifices or served the public interest in establishing a democratic constitutional order in South Africa" during apartheid and who therefore had not saved for their own retirement. [2] [3] Sonto sought a pension for a full twelve years of service to the anti-apartheid movement,from 1971 to 1990,but the pensions board agreed only to cover the last five years,from 1985 to 1990. [2] On appeal,the board withdrew the pension entirely on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he had been a full-time activist during the relevant period. In 2019,he lodged a complaint with the Public Protector,Busisiwe Mkhwebane,who instructed the board to review its decision. [2] [7]
The Republic of South Africa is a unitary parliamentary democratic republic. The President of South Africa serves both as head of state and as head of government. The President is elected by the National Assembly and must retain the confidence of the Assembly in order to remain in office. South Africans also elect provincial legislatures which govern each of the country's nine provinces.
General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 2009 to elect members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. These were the fourth general elections held since the end of the apartheid era.
Qubudile Richard Dyantyi has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly since 2019. Before that,he was a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and served as the Western Cape's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Local Government and Housing from 2005 to 2008. In 2021,he was elected chairperson of the national parliament's Committee for the Section 194 Enquiry into Busisiwe Mkhwebane's fitness to hold office.
Noxolo Kiviet is a South African politician who has served as the Minister of Public Service and Administration since March 2023. She was formerly the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023 and also served as the Premier of the Eastern Cape from 2009 to 2014.
Cedric Thomas Frolick,is the current House Chairperson:Committees,Oversight and ICT in the National Assembly of Parliament for the Republic of South Africa. A teacher,politician,anti-apartheid activist. He retired from teaching in 1999 and subsequently became a politician in the National Assembly. On 18 November 2010,the ANC appointed him as the House Chairperson responsible for Committees,ICT and Oversight.
Thandi Modise is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. She was previously the Premier of the North West from 2010 to 2014,Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces from 2014 to 2019,and Speaker of the National Assembly from 2019 to 2021.
Daluxolo Christopher Mpofu is a South African lawyer,politician,and former businessman who was the National Chairperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) from 2014 to 2019. He served on the Judicial Service Commission from 2017 to 2022 and formerly served as chief executive officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation from 2005 to 2009.
Pumza Patricia Dyantyi was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. A member of the African National Congress,Dyantyi was elected to the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature in 2014. She served as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health from 2014 to 2018,when she was appointed MEC for Social Development. From 2019 Dyantyi was a member of the South African National Assembly.
Nocawe Noncedo Mafu is a South African politician currently serving as Deputy Minister of Sports,Arts and Culture. She has been a member of the National Assembly since 2014. She was Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements from 2014 to 2019. Mafu is a member of the African National Congress.
Thandi Moraka is a South African politician who is currently serving as a Member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature. She was Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Sports,Arts and Culture in the Limpopo provincial government between July 2018 and October 2022. She is a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and in 2022 was elected to a five-year term on the party's National Executive Committee. She formerly served as Deputy Secretary-General of the ANC Youth League from 2015 to 2019 and as a member of the Limpopo ANC's Provincial Executive Committee from 2018 to 2022.
Bonisile Alfred Nesi was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. A member of the African National Congress,he was elected a Member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature in 2004. He was elected to the National Council of Provinces as a permanent delegate from the Eastern Cape in 2009. From 2014 he was a member of the South African National Assembly.
Comely Humphrey Maqocwa Maxegwana is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2014 until 2019,when he failed to gain re-election. Before that,he represented the ANC in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature. He was a prominent trade unionist in the Eastern Cape during apartheid and is also a former Provincial Secretary of the ANC's Eastern Cape branch.
Litho Suka is a South African politician and former educator who served as a councillor of Nelson Mandela Bay from 2015 until 2021. He was chief whip of council between 2015 and 2016. Prior to serving in council,Suka was a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces from 2014 to 2015 and before that,a member of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2009 to 2014. Suka had served as a member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature from 1994 until 2009. He is a member of the African National Congress.
Nkosinathi Benson Fihla is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2013. He subsequently served as Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality from March 2013 until May 2015. Fihla first joined the ANC in 1954 through its Youth League and he was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1964 to 1978 for his work with Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Arthur Roy Ainslie is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2014 and before that in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 1999.
Judy Chalmers is a retired South African politician and activist who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2009. During apartheid,she was the chairperson of the Black Sash in the Eastern Cape.
Cikizwa Ivy Gcina was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2009. During apartheid,she was a prominent figure in community organising in Port Elizabeth,particularly through the United Democratic Front and the Port Elizabeth Women's Organisation,the women's wing of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation.
Jean Swanson-Jacobs was a South African politician who served as Deputy Minister of Social Development from April 2004 until May 2009. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1997 to 2009. A social scientist by profession,she was formerly an anti-apartheid activist in Cape Town.
Mlungisi "Lulu" Johnson is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2019. He served as President of the ANC Youth League from 1994 to 1996 and was the President of the Congress of South African Students during apartheid from 1983 to 1985. He also served on the ANC National Executive Committee from 1994 to 1997.
Patrick Cecil McKenzie is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament until his retirement in November 2012,holding several positions in the Western Cape Executive Council during that time. Between 1994 and 1999,before he joined the ANC,he represented the National Party,including for a brief period as Minister of Welfare and Population Development in Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity in 1996. Before that,he represented the Labour Party in the Tricameral Parliament from 1983 to 1994.