Nqabayomzi Lawrence Saziso Kwankwa is a South African politician from 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 ...

. He has been serving as a Member of 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 ...

for the

United Democratic Movement The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is a centre-left, social-democratic, South African political party, formed by a prominent former National Party leader, Roelf Meyer (who has since resigned from the UDM), a former African National Congress ...

(UDM) since August 2013. He is the deputy president of the UDM and the party's chief whip.

Early life and education

Kwankwa was born in the previous

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

, now the

. He grew up in poverty. His father was also a polygamist. He later moved to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in the 1990s and was homeless for a short time. Due to his financial situation, he could not attend his father's funeral and burial in

Middledrift, Eastern Cape Ixesi (also Middeldrift or Middledrift) is a small town located north-west of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in Amathole District in an area that was formerly part of the ...

, in 1999. Kwankwa soon found work as a cleaner and security guard. He attended university and achieved a degree in Economics. He proceeded to work in the banking sector before becoming a politician.

Political career

Kwankwa's family were supporters 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). He was a member 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 participated in SASCO activities, while at university. He left the ANC in 2006 and joined the UDM in 2007. Kwankwa became a politician in 2009. In 2010, he was elected Deputy Secretary-General of the UDM. He was sworn in as a Member of Parliament in August 2013. He won a full term in May 2014 and became chief whip of the party's parliamentary caucus. Kwankwa challenged Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala for the post of UDM deputy president in December 2015 and Litchfield-Tshabalala won the election. A year later, in December 2016, Kwankwa was elected to the post following the resignation of Litchfield-Tshabalala. After the 2019 general election, Kwankwa was sworn in for another term as an MP. He remains the party's chief whip.

Personal life

Kwankwa is married and has five children. He won the 2015 Outstanding International Leadership Award. The award has since been renamed after him.

References

External links

Mr Nqabayomzi Lawrence Saziso Kwankwa – Parliament of South AfricaMr Nqabayomzi Lawrence Saziso Kwankwa – People's AssemblyNational Leadership: UDM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwankwa, Nqabayomzi Living people Xhosa people Year of birth missing (living people) Politicians from the Eastern Cape African National Congress politicians United Democratic Movement (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 21st-century South African politicians