Princess Faku (born 1981 or 1982) is a South African politician who has been

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of the

Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Buffalo City is a metropolitan municipality situated on the east coast of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It includes the towns of East London, Bhisho and Qonce, as well as the large townships of Mdantsane and Zwelitsha. History The muni ...

since March 2023. Prior to serving as Mayor, Faku had been a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

between 2019 and 2021 and was a Deputy Mayor from November 2021 to March 2023. Faku 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 ...

Career

Faku joined the National Youth Development Agency in 2010 when the organisation merged with the Umsobomvu Youth Fund. She held multiple leadership positions in the agency, including the positions of senior business development officer and manager for eight out of the nine district offices the agency has 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 ...

Political career

As a member of the

, Faku served as the secretary of an ANC branch in the Buffalo City region and as treasurer of the party's youth league in the Eastern Cape. By 2019, she was a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the youth league and a member of the Regional Executive Committee (REC) of the ANC.

Parliamentary career

Faku stood for the

in the 2019 general election as 19th on the ANC province-to-national list. She was not elected at the election due to the ANC's electoral support declining in the Eastern Cape. Following the resignation of ANC MP Zukisa Faku (no relation) less than two months after the election, Faku was selected to take up her seat in Parliament. She was sworn into office on 1 August 2019. Faku later became a member of the

Portfolio Committee on Police The Portfolio Committee on Police is a portfolio committee of the National Assembly in the Parliament of South Africa. As of July 2019, Tina Joemat-Pettersson of the African National Congress serves as chair of the committee. Mandate The commit ...

and an alternate member of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies.

Deputy Mayor of Buffalo City

In October 2021, Faku was listed as an ANC councillor candidate for the

council for the local government elections of 1 November 2021. She was reportedly favoured to be the ANC's mayoral candidate for the metro after the elections. Following the elections, as the ANC retained their majority of seats on the council and Faku was elected as a councillor, she submitted her resignation as a Member of Parliament on 17 November 2021 amid rumours that she would be appointed the ANC's mayoral candidate. Nonetheless, incumbent mayor Xola Pakati was selected by the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress to be the party's candidate for mayor on 21 November reportedly over concerns that Faku did not have the proper qualifications as per the party requisite. At the inaugural council meeting on 23 November, Faku was elected deputy mayor to Pakati. On 22 May 2022, at the ANC's Dr WB Rubusana regional elective conference, Faku was elected regional chairperson unopposed. She supported the provincial chairperson of the ANC in the Eastern Cape

Oscar Mabuyane Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane (born 24 February 1974) is a South African politician who has been serving as the seventh Premier of the Eastern Cape since May 2019. He was previously Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development, Enviro ...

's unsuccessful campaign for ANC deputy president and lobbied delegates to support his campaign at the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022.

Mayor of Buffalo City

On 8 March 2023, it was announced that the Provincial Working Committee of the ANC in the Eastern Cape had "recalled" Pakati as mayor of Buffalo City due to poor audit outcomes, wasteful expenditure and failure to collect revenue during his mayoral term. He resigned from office on 20 March 2023. Faku was elected

during a special council meeting on 23 March 2023, winning the position with 62 votes to the DA's Susan Bentley who received only 22 votes.

References

External links

Mandate of the Deputy Executive Mayor
at Buffalo City {{DEFAULTSORT:Faku, Princess Living people Xhosa people People from East London, South Africa African National Congress politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Year of birth missing (living people) Mayors of places in South Africa Mayors of Buffalo City