Bongi Sithole-Moloi Explained

Office:Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Premier:Nomusa Dube-Ncube
Predecessor:Sihle Zikalala
Termstart:7 February 2023
Term End:14 June 2024
Successor:Thulasizwe Buthelezi
Office2:Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Agriculture and Rural Development
Successor2:Super Zuma
Party:African National Congress
Citizenship:South Africa
Termstart2:May 2019
Office1:Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature
Termstart1:21 May 2014
Term End1:28 May 2024
Premier2:
  • Sihle Zikalala
  • Nomusa Dube-Ncube
Predecessor2:Themba Mthembu
Office3:Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation
Predecessor3:Ntombikayise Sibhidla-Saphetha
Premier3:Willies Mchunu
Successor3:Hlengiwe Mavimbela
Termstart3:May 2016
Termend3:May 2019
Birth Name:Bongiwe Nomusa Sithole
Spouse:
Lucky Moloi
Termend2:6 February 2023
Office4:Executive Mayor of uMgungundlovu District Municipality
Termstart4:December 2000
Termend4:March 2008
Predecessor4:Municipality established
Successor4:Yusuf Bhamjee

Bongiwe Nomusa Sithole-Moloi 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.

Sithole-Moloi was a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council from 2016 until 2024. Before being appointed as the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, she was the MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation from 2016 to 2019 and MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2019 to 2023. She gained political prominence as the Mayor of Umgungundlovu District Municipality from 2000 to 2008; she was removed from that position in a vote of no-confidence supported by her own party.

Mayor of Umgungundlovu: 2000–2008

Sithole-Moloi became active in the ANC in the Natal Midlands in the early 1990s,[1] [2] and she represented the party as the Mayor of Umgungundlovu between 2000 and 2008. She was removed from the mayoral office by her own party in a vote of no-confidence in 2008. Her removal was reportedly related to allegations of corruption and maladministration, including the accusation that R1.5 million in municipal funds had been misappropriated and channelled to businessman Lucky Moloi, whom she later married.[3] [4] The allegations were never tested in court and Sithole-Moloi denied them.

In 2009, Sithole-Moloi was appointed head of the directorate for dispute resolution in the provincial Department of Local Government, then under MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu. The opposition Inkatha Freedom Party alleged that her appointment had been "riddled with irregularities" and that the department appeared to have created the post for Sithole-Moloi. The provincial government denied this charge, saying that Sithole-Moloi had applied for the post after the vacancy was advertised publicly.[5] [6]

Provincial legislature: 2014–present

In the 2014 general election, Sithole-Moloi was elected to a seat in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature, ranked 29th on the ANC's provincial party list.[7] The ANC caucus elected her to chair the legislature's committee for the Premier's office and Zulu royal household. In May 2016, she was appointed to the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council in a cabinet reshuffle by Willies Mchunu, who had recently taken office as Premier; she was named MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation.[8] Sources told IOL that Sithole-Moloi owed the promotion to her loyalty to Sihle Zikalala, then the ANC's Provincial Chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal; Sithole-Moloi had apparently begun to support Zikalala after 2008, when her removal from the mayoral office strained her relationship with Senzo Mchunu, her former ally and Zikalala's rival and predecessor.

She remained in office as MEC for Arts and Culture until the 2019 general election, in which she was re-elected to her legislative seat, ranked 30th on the ANC's party list. Newly elected Premier Sihle Zikalala appointed her as MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development.[9] She was retained in that position by Zikalala's successor, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube.[10]

In 2022, Sithole-Moloi was named as a possible candidate for election to a top leadership position in the provincial ANC. She was nominated to stand for the position of ANC Deputy Provincial Secretary by the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the ANC Women's League[11] and by local party branches in Zululand. When the party's next provincial elective conference was held in July 2022, she was not elected to a top position but was re-elected[12] to the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee.[13]

On 7 February 2023, following Sihle Zikalala's resignation from the provincial legislature, Premier Dube-Ncube effected a minor cabinet reshuffle in which Sithole-Moloi replaced Zikalala as MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.[14] [15] Sithole-Moloi left the provincial legislature and the provincial government in 2024.

Personal life

Sithole-Moloi was divorced from Inkosi Zibuse Mlaba, an ANC politician and the former KwaXimba regent.[16] She subsequently married businessman and politician Lucky Moloi, who is a former Regional Secretary and Regional Chairperson of the ANC's Inkosi Bhambatha branch in Umzinyathi.[17] Moloi held the regional chairmanship from 2019 to 2022, having won election in a contest against Jomo Sibiya, his wife's colleague in the provincial legislature.[18]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Govender . Karen . 27 May 2019 . KZN DARD welcomes MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi . 2023-01-26 . KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development . en-gb.
  2. Web site: Phungula . Willem . 14 July 2022 . Another MEC nominated for KZN ANC top five position . 2023-01-26 . IOL . en.
  3. Web site: Zungu . Lungani . 12 June 2016 . Fired mayor now MEC . 2023-01-26 . IOL . en.
  4. Web site: Ngqulunga . Thobani . 2014-06-03 . Axed mayor returns . 2023-01-26 . Witness . en.
  5. Web site: 2009-04-12 . Broke Bongi gets new Local Govt job . 2023-01-26 . Witness . en.
  6. Web site: 15 April 2009 . MEC under fire for hiring ex-mayor . 2023-01-26 . Sowetan . en-ZA.
  7. Web site: Bongiwe Nomusa Sithole . 2023-01-26 . People's Assembly . en.
  8. Web site: Harper . Paddy . 6 June 2016 . 4 MECs gone in KZN cabinet ‘purge’ . 2023-01-08 . City Press . en-US.
  9. Web site: 27 May 2019 . Premier Sihle Zikalala announces his KZN cabinet . 2023-01-08 . News24 . en-US.
  10. Web site: 11 August 2022 . Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube: Introduction of the new members of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council . 2023-01-08 . South African Government . en.
  11. Web site: 25 January 2022 . KZN ANC Women’s League supports Nomusa Dube-Ncube for chairperson . 2023-01-26 . Polity . en.
  12. Web site: 2022-05-14 . 8th Regional Elective Conference: ANC calls for unity in Musa Dladla . 2023-01-26 . The Citizen . en.
  13. Web site: 25 July 2022 . Ex-chair Sihle Zikalala fails to make it into ANC KZN provincial executive committee . 2023-01-26 . Sowetan . en-ZA.
  14. News: Mavuso . Sihle . 7 February 2023 . Former KZN ANC Provincial secretary Super Zuma gets cabinet post in provincial reshuffle . en . IOL . 2023-02-07.
  15. Web site: 7 February 2023 . KZN cabinet reshuffle sees Super Zuma take up agriculture . 2023-02-07 . Sunday Times . en-ZA.
  16. News: Oliphant . Nathi . 16 March 2014 . Keeping it in the family . Sunday Tribune . 8 January 2023 . PressReader.
  17. Web site: Naidoo . Nalini . 2011-12-12 . Lucky Moloi elected secretary in new Bhambatha leadership . 2023-01-26 . Witness . en.
  18. Web site: Mavuso . Sihle . 22 May 2022 . MEC’s husband ousted as Ramaphosa allies claim last KZN ANC regional conference . 2023-01-26 . IOL . en.