Leonard Ramatlakane (born 16 February 1953) is the former Minister of Community Safety in the

Western Cape province The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

whilst an ANC member. He also served as the acting

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

briefly after Marthinus Van Schalkwyk resigned in 2004. Whilst he was Provincial Minister for Safety and Security in 2004 Ramatlakane received death threats allegedly from the Chinese triads following the arrest of suspected gang kingpin

Quinton 'Mr Big' Marinus Quinton is a place name, a surname or a masculine given name. The place name originates from Old English ''cwen'' "queen" or ''cwene'' "woman" and ''tun'' "farmstead, estate". The English surname and given name may originate from the English plac ...

and after an increase in investigations into organised crime in the province. Ramatlakane then controversially spent R347,716 of public money on enhancing security at his home. The Western Cape Provincial Parliament's standing committee on public accounts recommended that Ramatlakane pay the money back with both then opposition DA and the governing ANC voting against him. Ramatlakane resigned after the Premier Rasool was fired on 25 July 2008; he resigned as Community Safety MEC on 31 July 2008, making the way for the new Premier,

Lynne Brown Lynne Brown (born 26 September 1961) is a South African politician who is a former Minister of Public Enterprises and former Premier of the Western Cape Province. She was born in Cape Town and grew up in Mitchells Plain. She was appointed Premie ...

, to appoint her own MECs. He was the spokesperson on Public Service and Administration for the Congress of the People. In 2014 it transpired that he had defected from COPE to ANC when his name appeared on the ANC's list of national parliamentary candidates published on 11 March 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramatlakane, Leonard Premiers of the Western Cape 1953 births Living people