Kgaogelo Lekgoro Explained

Party:African National Congress
Office:Member of the Gauteng Executive Council for Local Government and Housing
Premier:Nomvula Mokonyane
Termstart:May 2009
Termend:November 2010
Office1:Member of the Gauteng Executive Council for Social Development
Predecessor1:Bob Mabaso
Successor1:Qedani Mahlangu (for Health and Social Development)
Successor:Humphrey Mmemezi
Predecessor:
Termstart1:March 2006
Termend1:May 2009
Birth Date:11 October 1957
Citizenship:South Africa

Mpetjane Kgaogelo Lekgoro (born 11 October 1957) is a South African politician and diplomat. Before his first appointment as South African Ambassador in 2013, he represented the African National Congress (ANC) in Parliament from 1994 to 2006 and as a Member of the Gauteng Executive Council from 2006 to 2010.

Life and career

Lekgoro was born on 11 October 1957.[1] During apartheid, he was a member of the United Democratic Front in the PWV region that later became Gauteng province.[2] In the early 1990s, he was a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC Youth League.

He was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2006 and from 2003 he chaired the National Assembly's Portfolio Committee on Communications.[3] On 23 March 2006, Mbhazima Shilowa, then the Premier of Gauteng, appointed him as Gauteng's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development; he succeeded Bob Mabaso, who had vacated the position earlier in 2006 amid a sexual harassment scandal. By that time he was also a member of the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee in Gauteng.

He served as MEC for Social Development until 2009, throughout the rest of Shilowa's term and the brief tenure of Shilowa's successor, Paul Mashatile.[4] On 8 May 2009, pursuant to the 2009 general election, newly elected Premier Nomvula Mokonyane announced that Lekgoro would be MEC for Local Government and Housing in her new Executive Council.[5] [6] However, in a cabinet reshuffle announced on 2 November 2010, Mokonyane removed him from the Executive Council, appointing him instead as the head of the Gauteng Planning Commission in the Premier's office.[7]

In 2013, President Jacob Zuma appointed Lekgoro to his first diplomatic posting as South Africa's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.[8] He later served as the Ambassador to Vietnam.[9]

Notes and References

  1. 11 June 1999 . General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures . . Pretoria, South Africa . . 408 . 20203 . 26 March 2021.
  2. Web site: 3 July 2003 . New Chairperson for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications . 2023-01-17 . National Association of Broadcasters . en.
  3. Web site: 24 March 2006 . New MECs upbeat about working in Gauteng . 2022-12-29 . IOL . en.
  4. Web site: 7 October 2008 . Paul Mashatile's inauguration address . 2022-12-29 . Politicsweb . en.
  5. Web site: 13 May 2009 . Gauteng Department of Community Safety welcomes new MEC: Elias Khabisi Mosunkutu South African Government . 2022-12-29 . South African Government.
  6. Web site: 11 May 2009 . Mokonyane sticks to gender promise . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170414162609/https://joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3818&Itemid=209 . 14 April 2017 . 13 April 2017 . City of Johannesburg.
  7. Web site: 2 November 2010 . Premier Nomvula Mokonyane announces new Gauteng Cabinet . 2022-12-29 . South African Government.
  8. Web site: Mustafa . Awad . 2013-07-30 . UAE and South Africa to discuss visa-free travel for citizens . 2023-01-17 . The National . en.
  9. Web site: 2019-10-11 . Immigration visa row in Vietnam . 2023-01-17 . The Mail & Guardian . en-ZA.