Bennet Mzwenqaba Bhanga (born 28 August 1977), known as Nqaba Bhanga, is a South African politician. He is the current Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

and the Leader of the Official Opposition in the

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Eastern Cape. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading par ...

. He is also the former Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, a former Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Human Settlements in the

Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipalities (als ...

, a former member of Parliament, and the DA's former Shadow Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).

Biography

He was born in KwaZakhele,

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

on 28 August 1977. While attending the KwaZakhele High School, he got involved in student politics for the first time. He was later elected the regional chair of 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). Bhanga joined 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 ...

and became the party's Nelson Mandela Bay Youth Leader, and SRC President of the Port Elizabeth Technikon where he obtained his first qualification in Public Administration. He later on achieved a postgraduate qualification in Maritime Studies. Bhanga served as the national secretary general of the

South African Student Congress The South African Students Congress (SASCO) is a South African student organisation currently led by Bamanye Matiwane as the organization's President. SASCO was founded in September 1991 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, through t ...

(SASCO), and also as the youth leader of the Congress of the People (COPE) and its member of Parliament from 2011 to 2014, prior to him defecting to the DA. He served as an MP for the DA from 2014 to 2016. He was the party's Ngqura constituency leader. In 2016, he was elected as a councillor and was appointed the Mayoral Committee Member (MMC) for Human Settlements of the

Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipalities (also called Category A municipalities) in So ...

under mayor

Athol Trollip Roland Athol Price Trollip (born 12 March 1964) is a South African politician and provincial chairman of ActionSA in the Eastern Cape. He was previously a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), serving as the Federal Chairperson of the DA from ...

, whom he succeeded as Party Provincial Leader in 2017. Bhanga was the DA's candidate for Eastern Cape Premier in the 2019 general elections. Following the elections, he became a Member of the

and consequently assumed the title of Leader of the Opposition. On 4 March 2020, Bhanga resigned from the

. The DA had nominated him as their mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay. He was elected unopposed as mayor on 4 December 2020. On 23 August 2021, DA leader

John Steenhuisen John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...

announced that Bhanga would be the DA's mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay in the 2021 local government elections. The DA did not win a majority on the Nelson Mandela Bay city council and lost nine seats. The ANC's Eugene Johnson was elected as mayor at the inaugural council meeting. She received 60 out of 119 votes, while Bhanga received only 59 votes. The DA's Federal Executive (FedEx) approved Bhanga's return to the provincial legislature on 29 November 2021 and he resigned as a councillor on 2 December 2021. On 9 December, Bhanga was sworn in as a member of the provincial legislature and became leader of the opposition again.

References

External links

People's Assembly profileNqaba Bhanga Eastern Cape Provincial Leader – Democratic Alliance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhanga, Nqaba Living people 1977 births African National Congress politicians Congress of the People (South African political party) politicians Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Members of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature 21st-century South African politicians People from Port Elizabeth Xhosa people