The Honourable Thembinkosi Willies Mchunu MPL | |
---|---|
7th Premier of KwaZulu-Natal | |
In office 24 May 2016 –27 May 2019 | |
Preceded by | Senzo Mchunu |
Succeeded by | Sihle Zikalala |
Personal details | |
Born | Thembinkosi Willies Mchunu 11 May 1948 |
Nationality | South African |
Political party | uMkhonto weSizwe (since 2024) African National Congress |
Spouse(s) | Zodwa Mchunu (m. 2018–present);Dudu Mchunu (d. 2016) [1] |
Willies Mchunu (born 11 May 1948) was the 7th Premier of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. He was previously a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for the Department of Transport,Community Safety,and Liaison in the province. He is a member of the African National Congress and the former chairperson of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in KwaZulu-Natal and is a member of the Central Committee of the SACP. [2] He is seen as a close ally of former South African President Jacob Zuma. [3]
Willies Mchunu's response to the violent attacks on Abahlali baseMjondolo at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in 2009 was and remains controversial. [4] [5] At the time of the attack,he claimed that the attacks were by a "criminal forum" associated with Abahlali baseMjondolo president S'bu Zikode. [6] Abahlali baseMjondolo and many civil society organizations have called the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo and Kennedy Road residents politically motivated and blame Mchunu for condoning the attacks by an armed group affiliated with the ANC . [7] [8] [9] Mchunu's response to the attacks was also criticised by Bishop Rubin Phillip and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba. [10] Mchunu refused calls for an independent investigation into the attacks. [11] [12] Amnesty International sent a letter of concern to Willies Mchunu,but there was no response from his office. [13]
On 18 July 2011,the case against the twelve members of Abahlali baseMjondolo arrested after the attacks was thrown out of court. [14] The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa issued a statement saying that the "charges were based on evidence which now appears almost certainly to have been manufactured" and noting that the Magistrate had described the state witnesses as "belligerent","unreliable",and "dishonest". [15]
According to Paul Trewhela,"The scandal is that this political prosecution was instituted in the first place,and that it was dragged on,month after month,by magistrates,prosecutions and police without a shred of reliable evidence - with plentiful evidence,rather,of manipulation and intimidation of witnesses by the police and local ANC structures." [16]
In last 2012 six applicants for positions as traffic officers died during a fitness test and another committed suicide following which there were calls for Mchunu's resignation. [17]
Since 24 people were killed on 5 September 2013 in one of the most horrific accidents on Fields Hill,the 2013 Pinetown crash,Willies Mchunu has discounted calls from residents for the banning of trucks on the "Hill of Horrors" as it has become known. Local City Councillor Rick Crouch has been vocal about the Provincial Government's failure in stopping the carnage on Fields Hill,going as far as accusing the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport,Community Safety and Liaison,Willies Mchunu,of practicing tombstone legislation. [18] Councillor Crouch has been campaigning for stricter rules for trucks on Fields Hill. [19]
Sibusiso Innocent Zikode is the president of the South African shack dwellers' movement,which he co-founded with others in 2005. Abahlali baseMjondolo claims to have an audited paid up membership of over 115 000 across South Africa. His politics have been described as 'anti-capitalist'. According to the Mail &Guardian "Under his stewardship,ABM has made steady gains for housing rights."
Bongiwe Nomusa Sithole-Moloi (née Sithole) is a South African politician who served as KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs from February 2023 until June 2024. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 2014 until May 2024.
The KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act,2007 was a provincial law dealing with land tenure and evictions in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
The attack on Kennedy Road in Durban,South Africa,occurred on 26 September 2009. A mob of men armed with bush knives,guns and bottles entered the Kennedy Road informal settlement searching for leaders of the shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM). They looted shacks and threatened residents,before attacking a hall where a youth meeting was happening. Two people were killed and around a thousand were displaced. In the aftermath,AbM representatives such as S'bu Zikode went into hiding and thirteen AbM members were arrested.
The Constitution of South Africa protects all basic political freedoms. However,there have been many incidents of political repression,dating back to at least 2002,as well as threats of future repression in violation of this constitution leading some analysts,civil society organisations and popular movements to conclude that there is a new climate of political repression or a decline in political tolerance.
There have been many political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994. In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years". In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year,most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
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.
Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal serving as a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces since 2024. Prior to serving in parliament,he was the Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality from 2019 until 2024. He was the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport,Community Safety and Liaison from 2016 to 2019 and a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2009 to 2019. Kaunda is a member of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Ravigasen Ranganathan "Ravi" Pillay is a South African attorney and African National Congress (ANC) politician who served as the Member of the Executive Council for Economic Development,Tourism and Environmental Affairs in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government from November 2020 until August 2022. He was the MEC for Finance from May 2019 to November 2020 and the MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works from 2011 to 2019. Pillay was elected to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in 2009 and served as the legislature's chief whip of the majority party from 2009 to 2011.
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.
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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.
Ntombikayise Nomawisile Sibhidla-Saphetha is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature since 2011. She was formerly KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Arts,Culture,Sports and Recreation from November 2011 to May 2016,and before that she represented the ANC in the National Assembly from 2007 to 2011.
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.
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