Velenkosini Hlabisa

Last updated

Velenkosini Hlabisa
MP
Hon-velenkosini-hlabisa.jpg
President of the Inkatha Freedom Party
Assumed office
25 August 2019

Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa (born 4 January 1965) is a South African politician and former teacher who has been President of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) since 2019 and a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023. He is the party's parliamentary leader. He previously served as the Secretary-General of the IFP from 2011 to 2017, as the Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019 and as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature between 2019 and 2023. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Early life, education and career

Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa was born on 4 January 1965 in Hlabisa, Northern Natal. He is the eldest of four children born to David and Thembani Hlabisa. [4] He joined the IFP Youth Brigade at the age of thirteen in 1978 and matriculated from high school in 1983. Hlabisa then proceeded to study at the University of Zululand and the University of South Africa. His father died while he was at university in 1990. In 1991, he sought employment as a teacher and worked as one at Ngebeza High School for five years and soon as principal of Somfula High School for twenty years. [5] [6]

Political career

In the 1995 municipal elections, Hlabisa was elected a municipal councillor for the town of Hlabisa. He continuously served as a municipal councillor for twenty-four years, during which he was Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019. [7] In May 2019, he was elected to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature and given the title of Leader of the Opposition due to the IFP reclaiming the title of second-largest party in the province. [8] Hlabisa is a member of the legislature's Finance committee. [9]

IFP leadership

Since joining the IFP in 1978, Hlabisa had risen through the party's leadership ranks. He was elected Secretary-General of the party in 2011. In 2017, the IFP's Extended National Council unanimously endorsed Hlabisa to succeed Mangosuthu Buthelezi as party president. Hlabisa was elected unopposed as the new leader of the IFP at the party's 35th National General Conference held in August 2019. [10] [11] [12]

Parliamentary career

On 16 October 2023, IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa announced that the party's National Executive Committee had resolved that Hlabisa would take up the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi's seat in the National Assembly. Party chief whip in the provincial legislature Blessed Gwala was appointed the party's new caucus leader in the legislature. [13] Hlabisa was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 19 October 2023. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inkatha Freedom Party</span> Right-wing political party in South Africa

The Inkatha Freedom Party is a right-wing political party in South Africa. Although registered as a national party, it has had only minor electoral success outside its home province of KwaZulu-Natal. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who served as chief minister of KwaZulu during the Apartheid period, founded the party in 1975 and led it until 2019. He was succeeded as party president in 2019 by Velenkosini Hlabisa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mangosuthu Buthelezi</span> South African politician (1928–2023)

Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu, a son of King Solomon, who was a brother to Buthelezi's mother, Princess Magogo. Buthelezi was chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan during apartheid and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, leading it until 2019, becoming its president emeritus soon after that. He was a political leader during Nelson Mandela's incarceration (1964–1990) and continued to be so in the post-apartheid era, when he was appointed by Mandela as Minister of Home Affairs, serving from 1994 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mondli Makhanya</span>

Mondli Makhanya is a South African journalist who has been editor-in-chief of City Press since 2016. He was formerly the editor of the Mail & Guardian from 2002 to 2003, the editor of the Sunday Times from 2004 to 2010, and the editor-in-chief at the Times Media Group from 2010 to 2013. He is also a former chairperson of the South African National Editors' Forum. He is well known for his political commentary, currently published in City Press columns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi</span> South African politician (1962–2021)

Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi was a South African politician who was the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. She was also President of the National Freedom Party (NFP). Prior to being elected to Parliament, she served for nineteen years as a councillor, fifteen of those years as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality. She was formerly chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the IFP's candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal in the 2009 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 South African general election</span>

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.

Zwakele Maxwell Mncwango is a South African politician who is the provincial chairperson of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal. He was a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2018 to 2022 and served as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2018 to 2019. He was the Provincial Leader of the KwaZulu-Natal Democratic Alliance (DA) from 2015 to 2021. Mncwango was the party's KwaZulu-Natal Premier candidate for the 2019 election.

The 35th Inkatha Freedom Party National General Conference was held from 23 to 25 August 2019 to elect the new leadership of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The previous elective conference was held in 2012. Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi had announced his intention to retire after serving in the position for more than forty-four years. He was the party's inaugural president. It was understood that the party's IFP Extended National Council favoured the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Velenkosini Hlabisa, to succeed him as party president. Hlabisa was elected unopposed.

Siphosethu Lindinkosi Ngcobo is a South African politician who has been serving as the Secretary-General of the Inkatha Freedom Party since August 2019. He was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in May 2019. Ngcobo is a former president of the National Teachers Union (NATU).

Philani Godfrey Mavundla is a South African politician and business tycoon who has been the Mayor of the Umvoti Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal since 2023, having previously served from 2011 to 2013 as a member of the African National Congress. He served as the Deputy Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality from 2021 until 2022. He is the founder and current leader of the Abantu Batho Congress, a party he founded in early-2020 after he resigned from the National Freedom Party (NFP).

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.

Mdumiseni Ntuli is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from May 2016 to July 2018. He left the legislature to serve as Provincial Secretary of the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal branch, an office he held between 2018 and 2022.

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.

Belinda Francis Scott, formerly Belinda Barrett, is a South African politician who was KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Finance from 2014 to 2019. She served several terms in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2019, representing the African National Congress (ANC) from 2002 onwards after defecting from both the Democratic Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party. After she left the provincial legislature in 2019, she served as Deputy Mayor of eThekwini from September 2019 until she resigned from politics in February 2021.

Prince Nhlanhla Elijah Zulu was a South African politician and prince of the Zulu royal family. He represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1995 until his death in 2007. A founding member of the IFP in 1975, he also served on the party's National Council until his death.

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.

Ruth Rabinowitz is a South African politician and medical doctor who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in Parliament from 1994 to 2009. She served in the Senate from 1994 to 1997 as a delegate from KwaZulu-Natal, and thereafter she was a member of the National Assembly.

Mangaqa Albert Mncwango is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal. He represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly for 23 years from 1994 to 2017. After that, he served as Mayor of Nongoma, his hometown, from 2017 to 2023. He is currently the deputy secretary-general of the IFP.

Walter Sidney Felgate was a South African politician, businessman, and anthropologist. He served in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1997 and then in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1998 until his retirement in 2003.

Senzo Brian Mfayela is a South African businessman and former politician who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999. He is the chief executive officer of Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Buthelezi Foundation.

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Jenni (25 August 2019). "Velenkosini Hlabisa takes the helm as IFP elects first new president in 44 years". News24. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  2. ↑ "Velenkosini Hlabisa elected IFP's new president". SABC. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  3. ↑ "Meet the IFP's new president Velenkosini Hlabisa". Eyewitness News. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  4. ↑ "5 things you need to know about new IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa". IOL. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  5. ↑ Mkentane, Luyolo (25 August 2019). "IFP elects Velenkosini Hlabisa as president to replace Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi". Business Day. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  6. ↑ Duma, Nkosikhona (25 August 2019). "Five things you need to need to know about new IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa". Eyewitness News. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  7. ↑ Mavuso, Sihle (4 June 2019). "Four KZN municipalities to elect new mayors following vacancies". Independent Online (IOL). Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019. Hlabisa, a former school principal, was the mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa local municipality in northern KZN.
  8. ↑ "Velenkosini Hlabisa takes baton from Mangosuthu Buthelezi as IFP president". SowetanLIVE. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  9. ↑ Head, Tom (25 August 2019). "Velenkosini Hlabisa: Qualifications, CV and work history of the new IFP president". The South African. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019. He remains a member of the KZN Finance branch in the provincial legislature.
  10. ↑ "Buthelezi's successor believes he can take the IFP forward". Independent Online (IOL). 30 October 2017. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "IFP elects Velenkosini Hlabisa as new leader after 44 years of Buthelezi". The Citizen. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  12. ↑ "Ex school principal Velenkosini Hlabisa takes baton from Mangosuthu Buthelezi as IFP president". TimesLIVE. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  13. ↑ "Velenkosini Hlabisa fills seat of late Mangosuthu Buthelezi in parliament". SowetanLIVE. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  14. ↑ Ndenze, Babalo. "Newly-sworn in MP and IFP leader Hlabisa vows to 'bring fresh ideas'". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
Political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature
2019–2023		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Inkatha Freedom Party
2019–present		Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.