Muntukayise Bhekuyise Ntuli (24 December 1957 – 16 January 2021) was a South African politician. A member of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

, he served as a

Member of the National Assembly of South Africa 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 ...

from 1999 to 2003, when he resigned amid fraud allegations. He was then elected to the

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the leading party or coalition members i ...

in 2009. On 11 September 2019, Ntuli became the

Member of the Executive Council In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...

for Transport, Community Safety & Liaison, replacing

Mxolisi Kaunda Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda (born 13 September 1972) is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal serving as the Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality since 2019. He was the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaiso ...

, who was elected Mayor of the

eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban, South Africa and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The majo ...

. Ntuli died on 16 January 2021, from complications of COVID-19.

Early life and education

Ntuli was born on 24 December 1957 in

Mtubatuba Mtubatuba is a town north of Richards Bay close to the entrance of Ncivi and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (previously Greater St Lucia Wetland Park) but now the isimangaliso wetland park is known to be under Mtuba town in KwaZulu-Natal, South ...

, north of Richard's Bay, in South Africa's former Natal Province. In 1980, he matriculated from Siyamukela High School in Madadeni, a township outside

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. Ntuli obtained a primary teachers certificate at Madadeni College and an associate in management qualification from the

UCT Graduate School of Business The Graduate School of Business (GSB) is the business school of the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa's oldest university. The School's programme includes the Masters in Business Administration (MBA), the Executive MBA, and the Postg ...

. From the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, he held a certificate in leadership. Ntuli also had a post-diploma in research, strategic diplomacy and transitional justice from the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the ...

Political career

Ntuli was active in the underground structures of the

and was part of uMkhonto we Sizwe operations during

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Soon after, he was involved with the establishing of ANC structures in Northern Natal. He then served as the regional chair of the ANC's Musa Dladla region for a total of 15 years and was a member of the ANC's Peace and Stability Committee for over 20 years. In 1999, he was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

, the lower house of the

South African parliament The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

, as an ANC representative. He resigned from parliament in 2003 after he pleaded guilty to abusing his travel facilities, his parliamentary medical aid and defrauding parliament. Speaker

Frene Ginwala Frene Noshir Ginwala (25 April 1932 – 12 January 2023) was a South African journalist and politician who was the first Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 1994 to 2004.

called his actions "totally unacceptable" and "reprehensible". At the 2009 general election, Ntuli was elected to the

. For nine years, he was a member of various committees, including the transport portfolio committee, and served as chairperson of the community safety and liaison portfolio committee in the legislature. On 11 September 2019, he was appointed

(MEC) for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, replacing

, who was elected Mayor of the

Death

Ntuli died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

complications on 16 January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. At the time of his death, he was a member of the provincial executive committee of the ANC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ntuli, Bheki 1957 births 2021 deaths Zulu people People from KwaZulu-Natal Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature African National Congress politicians University of the Witwatersrand alumni University of Johannesburg alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa