Manemolla David Makhura (born 22 February 1968) is a South African politician. He served as the 6th

Premier of Gauteng The Premier of Gauteng is the head of government of the Gauteng province of South Africa. The current Premier of Gauteng is Panyaza Lesufi, a member of the African National Congress, who was elected on 6 October 2022, following the resignation ...

following his election in 2014 until his resignation in October 2022. He was also a member of the

Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 73 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the sixth, was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African Natio ...

during that time. Makhura is a member of the

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

(ANC). Makhura is also the trustee of the board of the

Ahmed Kathrada Foundation The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation is a South African based foundation the seeks to promote non-racialism and the principles within both the Freedom Charter and the South African Constitution. It is named after anti-apartheid activist, political prisone ...

Early life and career

Makhura was born on 22 February 1968 in

Buysdorp Buysdorp is a village in Makhado Local Municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa. A rural coloured community located 14 km from Vivo, on the R522 road to Louis Trichardt, Buysdorp was named after Coenraad de Buys, the “King of ...

in the Soutpansberg District in the north of

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

Province. Between 1984 and 2004 Makhura was involved in student and youth politics in the Azanian Student Movement, the

Congress of South African Students The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) is an anti-apartheid Student Organisation established in 1979 in the wake of the June 16 Soweto Uprisings in 1976 in South Africa. Background COSAS was formed in June 1979 after the South African Stu ...

(COSAS), and the South African Youth Congress, where he served various leadership positions. As a young student

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, Makhura joined the underground structures of the banned

(ANC) and the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

(SACP) in 1986 and 1987. During his student years at university, Makhura fought against financial exclusion at tertiary institutions. With pressure from

student organizations A student society, student association, university society, student club, university club, or student organization is a society or an organization, operated by students at a university or a college institution, whose membership typically consists ...

, like the SA Student Congress (SASCO), of which Makhura had been the secretary-general, ensuring that students received funding. Makhura served as the Provincial secretary of the ANC in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

from 2001 to 2014.

Gauteng Premier

Makhura became the

in 2014 after succeeding

Nomvula Mokonyane Nomvula Paula Mokonyane (born 28 June 1963) is a South African politician who is currently the First Deputy Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC). She was the first female Premier of Gauteng from 2009 to 2014 and subsequentl ...

who went on to become a minister in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. Makhura was the favourite of the provincial ANC leadership, which had in the past been opposed to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

's leadership.

Crime

In 2014 after taking office Makhura said that the people of

needed to wage war on crime to protect their children, while speaking at a meeting in the community of Reiger Park as part of the government's Gauteng Township Economy Revitalisation Programme. Makhura spoke at Reiger Park after the shooting of four-year-old Taegrin Morris who had been killed in a botched hijacking the previous month. In 2016 Makhura laid charges against former head of the Department of Sport, Namhla Siqaza, in a bid to recover more than R800 million in government tenders that had improperly been awarded.

Health

In 2014 the newly built Natalspruit Hospital was officially opened and was christened as the "future of Gauteng Health" by Makhura. The

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

Aaron Motsoaledi Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi (born 7 August 1958, in Transvaal, now Limpopo) is the Minister of Home Affairs in the Cabinet of South Africa. He was previously the Minister of Health from 2009 to 2019. He was a MEC in Limpopo province for agriculture ...

, who also attended the opening with Makhura, said that the equipment found inside the hospital was previously only found in private hospitals. The Natalspruit Hospital had cost R 1.7 billion to construct in a period of 8 years and was furnished with 821 beds. While addressing senior managers, CEOs of Gauteng hospitals, health workers and professionals at the 2016 Khanyisa Service Excellence Awards. Makhura said that although Gauteng had been the best-performing province in 2015, the province could do better. A survey suggested that 69% of people in Gauteng were satisfied with the provincial healthcare services. Makhura said that it was not good enough and was aiming for 80% satisfactory level by 2019. Makhura said that the Department of Health in Gauteng would spend more than R1.2 billion over three years on the modernisation of public health and R3 billion on equipment.

Employment

Makhura said that he had ambitions to grow the economy of the province, which will create employment for thousands of unemployed people in Gauteng.

Revitalisation of townships

Makhura said that the province was working on a concrete plan to revitalise old townships in the province. He further said that in order to change Human Settlements in five years the province was planning to build 140 000 houses around Gauteng. All those developments would have major socio-economic benefits with regard to decent employment and economic inclusion.

2019 re-election and second term

Following the May 2019 elections, the ANC announced that it had retained Makhura in his position of Premier of Gauteng. His second term as premier commenced on 22 May 2019, after he defeated the Democratic Alliance's

Solly Msimanga Solly Tshepiso Msimanga (born 16 July 1980) is a South African politician serving as the Leader of the Opposition in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since May 2019. He has been a Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Member of the Gauteng Provincia ...

for the post.

Resignation

On 27 June 2022, deputy provincial chairperson

Panyaza Lesufi Andrek "Panyaza" Lesufi (born 4 September 1968) is a South African politician who was appointed the seventh Premier of Gauteng in October 2022. He was previously Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education in the Gauteng provincial gover ...

was elected the

provincial chairperson of the ANC The Provincial Executive Committees (PEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) are the chief executive organs of the party's nine provincial branches. Comprising the so-called Top Five provincial officials and up to 30 additional elected member ...

in Gauteng, succeeding Makhura. In September 2022, the newly elected ANC Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) decided to recall Makhura as premier for Lesufi to take over ahead of the 2024 elections. On 4 October 2022, Makhura tendered his resignation as Premier of Gauteng and as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, effective 6 October 2022. Lesufi is expected to succeed him.

Personal life

On 10 July 2020, Makhura announced that he had tested positive for

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 COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, becoming the third premier in one week to test positive for the virus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makhura, David Living people Premiers of Gauteng African National Congress politicians 1968 births Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature