Rodgers Basikopo Makamu is a South African politician who is currently serving as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs in the Limpopo provincial government. He was formerly MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2018 and 2019. A teacher by training and a member of the African National Congress (ANC), Makamu was elected to a second term as Deputy Provincial Secretary of the ANC's Limpopo branch in June 2022.

Early life and career

Makamu was born in

Giyani Giyani is a town situated in the North-eastern part of Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is the administrative capital of the Mopani District Municipality, and a former capital of the defunct Gazankulu bantustan. The town of Giyani has seven s ...

in Mopani in present-day Limpopo and matriculated at Matsambu High School in Mopani in 1994, the year that apartheid ended. He trained as an

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

teacher but later resigned from the education sector to work in local government, becoming an accountant and then a manager at the

Greater Giyani Local Municipality Greater Giyani Local Municipality is located in the Mopani District Municipality of Limpopo province, South Africa. The seat of Greater Giyani Local Municipality is Giyani. Main places The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following ...

. He was also a member of the African National Congress (ANC), initially through the party's Youth League. He resigned from his municipal job when he was elected to the full-time party position of Regional Secretary of the ANC's branch in Mopani. He was Regional Secretary under Regional Chairperson

Seaparo Sekwati Seaparo Charles Sekoati (born 28 June 1967), sometimes misspelled Seaparo Sekwati, is a South African politician who is currently serving in the Limpopo provincial government as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Finance. He has been a ...

and then, after his re-election in September 2017, under Sekwati's successor,

Pule Shayi Pule Josiah Shayi (born 30 June 1972) is a South African politician who has served as the mayor of Mopani District Municipality since 2019. Before that, he was Mayor of Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019. He is best known as the R ...

Career in provincial government

In June 2018, Makamu vacated the regional party office when he was elected to a more senior position as Deputy Provincial Secretary of the ANC's Limpopo branch. He won in a vote against

Onicca Moloi Mmaneo Onicca Moloi (born 1979/1980) is a South African politician and businesswoman who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature from 2014 to 2019. She was also Limpopo's Member of the Executive Co ...

. As deputy secretary, he worked under ANC Provincial Chairperson Stan Mathabatha and ANC Provincial Secretary

Soviet Lekganyane Molapi Soviet Lekganyane is a South African politician from Limpopo province. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he was Member of the Limpopo Executive Council for Local Government and Housing from 2009 to 2012 under Premier Cas ...

. Shortly after his election to the party office, on 26 July 2018, he joined the

Limpopo Executive Council The Executive Council (South Africa), Executive Council of Limpopo is the cabinet of the executive branch of the Provincial governments of South Africa, provincial government in the South African Provinces of South Africa, province of Limpopo. T ...

: Mathabatha, in his capacity as

Premier of Limpopo The Premier of Limpopo is the head of government of Limpopo province of South Africa. The current Premier of Limpopo is Stanley Mathabatha, a member of the African National Congress, who was appointed in July 2013. He took office on 18 July 201 ...

, appointed Makamu to succeed the late

Joyce Mashamba Happy Joyce Mashamba (25 September 1950 – 20 June 2018) was a South African politician and veteran of the African National Congress (ANC). At the time of her death, she was Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Agriculture and Rural Deve ...

as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Agriculture and Rural Development. In the 2019 general election, Makamu was elected to his first full term as a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Limpopo Provincial Legislature The Limpopo Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Limpopo. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet, the Limpopo Executive Council, from among the ...

, ranked second on the ANC's

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

. He was appointed MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs in Mathabatha's newly constituted Executive Council. He was also re-elected to his position as ANC Deputy Provincial Secretary at the party's next provincial elective conference in Polokwane in June 2022; he ran on a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

aligned to Mathabatha, who won re-election as ANC Provincial Chairperson at the same conference, and thereafter he deputised Reuben Madadzhe, who succeeded Soviet Lekganyane as Provincial Secretary.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Makamu, Basikopo Living people People from Greater Giyani Local Municipality African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature