Mondli Gungubele (born 1 February 1957) is a South African politician, trade union leader and educator who is the current

Minister in the Presidency The Minister in the Presidency is a Minister in the Cabinet of South Africa and is chosen by the President of South Africa. The minister is responsible for all portfolios within the Office of the President of South Africa. After Minister Ja ...

and 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 ...

for 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 ...

. He previously served as Executive Mayor of the

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

(2010–2016), as Deputy Minister of Finance (2018–2019) and as Chairperson of the Social Development Committee (2019–2021).

Early life and education

Gungubele was born on 1 February 1957. He has a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

(BCom) degree in law as well as a National Diploma in Nursing. He taught at Falo Senior Secondary School from 1980 to 1981.

Early political career

Between 1983 and 1990, he served as a trade union leader in the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). He was active in the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions ...

from 1989 to 1991. Gungubele was the national organiser of the South African Health Workers Congress in 1991. A member of the

, he served as chairperson of the ANC's branches in

Joubert Park Joubert Park is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 8. The suburb shares its name with the largest park in the Central Business District, which is located a few blocks from the main train station for the city (known a ...

and

Vosloorus Vosloorus is a large township situated south of Boksburg and just east of Katlehong in Ekurhuleni, just 30 kilometres south-east of Johannesburg, Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana la ...

. Gungubele was a founder member of the ANC's East Rand region in 1991 after the party was unbanned. From 1992 to 2017 he served on the provincial executive committee of the ANC in Gauteng.

Gauteng government

In the first multi-racial elections in 1994, he was elected to 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 ...

as an ANC representative. He served as 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: "Pro ...

for multiple portfolios during his time in the Gauteng government. He was the MEC for Social Development and Community Services from 1994 to 1997, when he was appointed as MEC for Health, a position he held until 1999. In 1999, he was appointed to head the Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture portfolio. Gungubele later became chairperson of the Economic Affairs Portfolio Committee. He resigned from the legislature in 2007.

National parliament and mayor of Ekurhuleni

Gungubele was elected to the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...

in the 2009 parliamentary elections. He resigned in November 2010 to take up the position of mayor of the

. Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina was nominated as the ANC's mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni for the August 2016 local elections. Masina was elected to replace Gungubele as mayor after the election, while Gungubele took up his seat in the National Assembly. In 2017, he was elected to the

National Executive Committee of the African National Congress The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) is the party's chief executive organ. It is elected every five years at the party national conference; the executive committee, in turn, elects a National Working Comm ...

Deputy Minister of Finance and parliamentary career

After

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician who is currently serving as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and ...

was elected president of South Africa in February 2018, he appointed Gungubele as Deputy Minister of Finance. Gungubele held the position until after the May 8, 2019 elections when David Masondo was appointed to replace him. He was one of only two deputy ministers who were not reappointed to the national executive. In July 2019, he was elected to head the Portfolio Committee on Social Development. In June 2021, he became a member of the

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry The Committee for Section 194 Enquiry is an ad hoc committee of the National Assembly of South Africa that was established on 7 April 2021 to determine if there are grounds for the removal of Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector. Backg ...

which will determine Public Protector

Busisiwe Mkhwebane Busisiwe Mkhwebane is a South African advocate, prosecutor and ombudsman, who has served as the 4th Public Protector of South Africa from 2016 to 2022. Early life and education Mkhwebane was born in Bethal in the then Transvaal province (now ...

's fitness to hold office.

Minister in the Presidency

During a cabinet reshuffle on 5 August 2021, Ramaphosa appointed Gungubele as

, replacing the late

Jackson Mthembu Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu (5 June 1958 – 21 January 2021) was a South African politician who served as Minister in the Presidency of South Africa's government, and as a parliamentarian for the African National Congress (ANC). Previously, he ser ...

, who succumbed to

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 ...

in January. As a consequence of this, Gungubele stepped down as chair of the social development committee and lost his committee memberships. He was sworn into office on 6 August. In January 2022, Ramaphosa designated Gungubele in terms of Section 209(2) of the Constitution to "assume political responsibility for the control and direction" of the State Security Agency. Ramaphosa's decision was criticised by the Democratic Alliance (DA) as "nothing more than a political chess move". Gungubele was re-elected to another five-year term on the ANC NEC at the party's 55th National Conference held in December 2022.

Political positions

Gungubele has been described as a close ally to president Ramaphosa. He was critical of former president

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 ...

. He condemned the violent riots that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July 2021.

References

External links

*
Mr Mondli Gungubele
at

Parliament of South Africa 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 ...

Mondli Gungubele, Mr
at

Government of South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa. Executive authority ...

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gungubele, Mondli 1957 births Living people Government ministers of South Africa Mayors of Ekurhuleni Members of the National Assembly of South Africa