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Super Zuma
MPL
Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council for Agriculture and Rural Development
In office
7 February 2023 – 14 June 2024
PremierNomusa Dube-Ncube
Preceded byBongi Sithole-Moloi
Succeeded byThembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa
Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 September 2018
In office
21 May 2014 – November 2015
Provincial Secretary of the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal
In office
November 2015 – January 2018
DeputyMluleki Ndobe
ChairpersonSihle Zikalala
Preceded bySihle Zikalala
Succeeded byMdumiseni Ntuli
Personal details
Born
Bangokwakhe Madesius Zuma

1962 (1962) (age 62)
Impendle, Natal province
South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress

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

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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,[1] and he has been nicknamed "Super" since childhood.[1] 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.[3]

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.[1] 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.[1] 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

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Provincial legislature: 2014–2015

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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

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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.[1] He served under Provincial Chairperson Sihle Zikalala, with Mluleki Ndobe as his deputy.[11] 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.[16][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

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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.[7] 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]

References

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