Super Zuma Explained

Office1:Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature
Termstart2:21 May 2014
Termend2:November 2015
Party:African National Congress
Termstart1:26 September 2018
Honorific Suffix:MPL
Termend:14 June 2024
Termstart:7 February 2023
Office3:Provincial Secretary of the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal
Termend3:January 2018
Termstart3:November 2015
1Blankname3:Chairperson
1Namedata3:Sihle Zikalala
Deputy3:Mluleki Ndobe
Predecessor3:Sihle Zikalala
Successor3:Mdumiseni Ntuli
Birth Place:Impendle, Natal province
South Africa
Birth Name:Bangokwakhe Madesius Zuma
Office:Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Agriculture and Rural Development
Predecessor:Bongi Sithole-Moloi
Successor:Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa
Premier:Nomusa Dube-Ncube

Bangokwakhe Madesius "Super" Zuma (born 1962) is a South African politician and former trade unionist who served as KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Agriculture and Rural Development from February 2023 until June 2024. He has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature since September 2018, having formerly served in his seat from 2014 to 2015.

Zuma left the provincial legislature in 2015 to become Provincial Secretary of the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal branch, an office he held between 2015 and 2018. He is also a former Provincial Secretary of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union.

Early life and career

Bangokwakhe Madesius Zuma was born in 1962 in Impendle in present-day KwaZulu-Natal, then part of Natal province.[1] He is the third-youngest of four brothers and also has two sisters, and he has been nicknamed "Super" since childhood. He is the nephew of Inkosi Simphiwe Zuma and the uncle of ANC politician Mzi Zuma.[2] [3] He is also indirectly related to former President Jacob Zuma: Simphiwe Zuma's father shared a paternal grandfather with the former President, although they are from different clans.

Zuma chaired a local branch of the African National Congress (ANC) in Natal from 1992 to 1998, and, after the end of apartheid, he served a stint as an ANC local councillor, beginning with the position of Deputy Mayor of the interim Hilton council from 1995. However, he rose to prominence as a trade unionist: he had joined the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (NEHAWU) as a shop steward while working at the University of Zululand. In 2001, he was elected Provincial Secretary of NEHAWU's KwaZulu-Natal branch; he succeeded Bheki Mtolo and remained in the office for about eight years. Simultaneously, he rose through the ranks of the ANC's Moses Mabhida regional branch in Umgungundlovu District,: he was elected Deputy Regional Secretary of the branch in the 2006[4] and then served as Regional Secretary from 2008 to 2014.[5] [6]

Political career

Provincial legislature: 2014–2015

In the 2014 general election, Zuma was elected to an ANC seat in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature, ranked 37th on the ANC's provincial party list.[7] In November 2014, he succeeded Alpha Shelembe, his colleague in the provincial legislature, as Regional Chairperson of the Moses Mabhida ANC; he stood unopposed after Shelembe withdrew from the race.[8] [9] [10]

ANC Provincial Secretary: 2015–2018

On 8 November 2015, at a party elective conference in Pietermaritzburg, Zuma was elected Provincial Secretary of the ANC's branch in KwaZulu-Natal.[11] He beat Nhlakanipho Ntombela in a vote to take the position. He served under Provincial Chairperson Sihle Zikalala, with Mluleki Ndobe as his deputy. He resigned from the provincial legislature in order to take up the full-time party position, and his seat was taken up by Sihle Zikalala;[12] his ANC Regional Secretary position was taken over by Mthandeni Dlungwane.[13]

For much of his tenure in the secretariat, Zuma and the provincial ANC were occupied with legal battles over the validity of the conference that had elected them, with an opposing ANC faction alleging that the conference had been marred by electoral irregularities. The Pietermaritzburg High Court ultimately nullified the election and in January 2018 the ANC's National Executive Committee disbanded the provincial leadership corps, prematurely ending Zuma's term as Provincial Secretary.[14] [15]

As secretary, Zuma was also known as a "fierce ally" of Jacob Zuma, the incumbent President of South Africa.[16] As the provincial ANC prepared to re-run its leadership elections in 2018, it was reported that the President supported Zuma's bid for re-election as Provincial Secretary.[17] [18] Zuma was initially the only nominee for the secretarial position but, when the elective conference opened in July 2018, Mdumiseni Ntuli, the outgoing provincial spokesperson, was nominated from the floor of the conference by the ANC Youth League.[19] [20] Ntuli won in a vote by a margin of over 200 votes from among about 1,700 delegates.[21] [22]

Return to the legislature: 2018–present

In the aftermath of the July 2018 elective conference, Ntuli resigned from his seat in the provincial legislature – as Zuma had before him – and, on 26 September 2018, Zuma was sworn back in to the legislature to fill the resulting casual vacancy.[23] He also succeeded Ntuli as Deputy Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the legislature.[24]

In the 2019 general election, he was re-elected to a full term in the provincial legislature, ranked 24th on the ANC's party list. He was named Chief Whip when the legislature was constituted after the election.[25] In July 2022, he was elected to a four-year term as an ordinary member of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC's Provincial Executive Committee.[26] On 7 February 2023, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube appointed him to the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Agriculture and Rural Development; he succeeded Bongi Sithole-Moloi in a minor reshuffle occasioned by Sihle ZIkalala's resignation from the legislature.[27] [28]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 13 November 2015 . ANC unity 'be damned' . Daily News . 26 January 2023 . PressReader.
  2. Web site: 2018-03-02 . Dead-end roads and Zuma's legacy . 2023-01-26 . The Mail & Guardian . en-ZA.
  3. Web site: 27 November 2016 . Zuma dynasty: Now entering the province of KwaZuma-Natal . 2023-01-26 . Sunday Times . en-ZA.
  4. Web site: Mavuso . Sihle . 11 March 2020 . Zumas 'cabal' collapsed by conference differences . 2023-01-29 . IOL . en.
  5. Web site: Naidoo . Nalini . 2008-09-01 . Rifts in local Zuma camp . 2023-01-28 . Witness . en.
  6. Web site: 11 March 2012 . Shelembe elected ANC regional chairman . 2023-01-28 . IOL . en.
  7. Web site: Bangokwakhe Madesius Zuma . 2023-01-26 . People's Assembly . en.
  8. Web site: Naidoo . Nalini . 2014-10-27 . Super Zuma stands unopposed . 2023-01-28 . Witness . en.
  9. Web site: 2014-11-03 . ANC conference success . 2023-01-28 . Capital Newspapers . en-US.
  10. Web site: Madlala . Cyril . 2015-11-08 . Clean Slate: Royal battle for KwaZulu-Natal ANC sees new kingmakers triumph . 2023-01-26 . Daily Maverick . en.
  11. Web site: 8 November 2015 . Sihle Zikalala ANC KZN's new chairperson . 2022-11-25 . News24 . en-US.
  12. Web site: Stolley . Giordano . 26 November 2015 . Zikalala to be sworn in as MPL . 2023-01-26 . IOL . en.
  13. Web site: Mlambo . Sihle . 20 June 2016 . Meet the man taking on a department in deep crisis . 2023-01-27 . IOL . en.
  14. Web site: 2017-12-15 . NDZ loses out on KZN PEC votes . 2022-11-30 . Daily Maverick . en.
  15. Web site: Makhaye . Chris . 16 July 2018 . KZN's Mdumiseni Ntuli likely to win position of secretary . 2022-11-25 . Business Day . en-ZA.
  16. Web site: Mthethwa . Bongani . 13 July 2018 . Disputed ANC KZN elective conference to finally go ahead . 2022-11-25 . Sunday Times . en-ZA.
  17. Web site: Grootes . Stephen . 2018-07-22 . ANC's electoral slates are so 2007 . 2022-11-25 . Daily Maverick . en.
  18. Web site: 10 June 2018 . Zuma fuels ANC war . 2023-01-26 . News24 . en-US.
  19. Web site: de Klerk . Aphiwe . 21 July 2018 . David Makhura chairs ANC in Gauteng, while Sihle Zikalala to lead in KZN . 2022-11-25 . Business Day . en-ZA.
  20. Web site: Cele . S’thembile . 21 July 2018 . Sihle Zikalala emerges victorious as ANC KZN chairperson . 2022-11-25 . City Press . en-US.
  21. Web site: Harper . Paddy . 2018-07-21 . Mabuyakhulu 'unity' slate emerges victorious at ANC KZN conference . 2022-11-25 . The Mail & Guardian . en-ZA.
  22. Web site: 21 July 2018 . ANC KZN Top 5 elected after shaky start to conference . 2022-11-25 . News24 . en-US.
  23. Web site: 2018-09-26 . Super Zuma back in legislature . 2023-01-26 . Eyethu News . en-US.
  24. Web site: Phungula . Willem . 2 October 2018 . Jobless Zuma lands top post . 2023-01-26 . Daily Sun . en-US.
  25. Web site: 23 May 2019 . New KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala vows to fight graft in provincial govt . 2023-01-26 . IOL . en.
  26. Web site: 25 July 2022 . Ex-chair Sihle Zikalala fails to make it into ANC KZN provincial executive committee . 2023-01-25 . Sowetan . en-ZA.
  27. News: Mavuso . Sihle . 7 February 2023 . Former KZN ANC Provincial secretary Super Zuma gets cabinet post in provincial reshuffle . en . IOL . 2023-02-07.
  28. Web site: 7 February 2023 . KZN cabinet reshuffle sees Super Zuma take up agriculture . 2023-02-07 . Sunday Times . en-ZA.