Sakhumzi Stoffels Somyo (born 1960) is a South African politician. A member of the African National Congress, he was elected to 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 ...

in 2014. He was then appointed as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) responsible for the Finance, Economic Development, Environment and Tourism portfolio. In 2018, he was fired as an MEC. Somyo was elected to Parliament in 2019. Soon after, he was elected Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Auditor General.

Early life and education

Somyo was born in 1960. He matriculated from Jabavu High School. He completed a 3-year Teacher's Diploma at the Cape College of Education in Fort Beaufort. Somyo holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and an Executive Management Certificate from the University of Fort Hare. He is busy completing his

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

degree at Fort Hare.

Political career

Somyo served as the regional chairperson of the ANC's Amathole region 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 ...

. He also served as the deputy provincial chairperson of the ANC until the party's 2017 provincial conference.

Eastern Cape provincial government

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Somyo stood for the

as 5th on the ANC's list. He was elected to the provincial legislature as the ANC won 45 out of the 63 seats. Having entered the provincial legislature, Somyo was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) responsible for the Finance, Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism portfolio by the newly elected premier,

Phumulo Masualle Phumulo Masualle is a South African politician. He was the Premier of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa, following his appointment in 2014. Masualle, member of the African National Congress (ANC) and SA Communist Party (SACP) stalwart, wa ...

. In 2015, Somyo opened the 2015 Africa Open at the East London Golf Club. During the 2018 Provincial Budget Speech in March 2018, Somyo denounced the exodus of more than 300‚000 residents from the Eastern Cape to other provinces‚ according to the 2011 national census‚ which had resulted in a R13.9-billion cut in the province's national budget allocation since 2013. Somyo referred to the provincial budget as a "balancing budget". In May 2018, Masualle reshuffled his executive council, in which he fired Somyo and replaced him with Oscar Mabuyane.

Parliamentary career

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Somyo stood for election to the

South African National Assembly 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 ...

as the 5th candidate on the ANC's list in the

. He was elected to the National Assembly at the election. Upon election, Somyo was elected chairperson of the Standing Committee on Auditor General. He also serves on the

Standing Committee on Public Accounts The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA; Afrikaans: ''Staande Komitee oor Openbare Rekeninge'') is a standing committee of the National Assembly of South Africa, the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa. It oversees the financial ...

. In August 2021, Somyo said that some municipalities in South Africa presented an unsatisfactory picture of their financial management. During a committee meeting of the Standing Committee on Auditor General in November 2021, Somyo said that he found it hard to believe that Eskom was functioning when rolling blackouts were frequently occurring.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Somyo, Sakhumzi Living people 1960 births Xhosa people Politicians from the Eastern Cape Members of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature Members of the National Assembly of South Africa African National Congress politicians