Fholisani Sydney Mufamadi (born 28 February 1959) is a South African politician. He was Minister of Safety and Security from 1994 to 1999 and Minister of Provincial and Local Government from 1999 to 2008.

Early life

Mufamadi was born on 28 February 1959 in

Alexandra Township Alexandra, informally abbreviated to Alex, is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and is located next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton. It is commonly known as ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, the eldest of the four children of Masindi and Reuben Mufamadi. He grew up in

Meadowlands, Gauteng Meadowlands is a suburb of Soweto, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It was founded in the early 1950s during the apartheid era for black residents from Sophiatown. History Meadowlands also known as Ndofaya has its origin with the introduction of ...

, and Tshisahulu,

Venda Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of t ...

(today

Limpopo Province Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature ...

), where he first looked after his grandfather's cattle before attending school. Both his father and mother worked in Johannesburg, selling home-brewed

alcoholic beverage An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol that acts Alcohol (drug), as a drug and is produced by Ethanol fermentation, fermentat ...

s to supplement the family income. His mother was subsequently arrested for illegally selling alcohol, and thus he experienced the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era legal system first-hand at an early age.

Education

Mufamadi completed his schooling at Khwevha High School in Shayandima, Venda, in 1977. He holds a Master of Science degree in State, Society and Development from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

, and is a Doctoral candidate there specializing in Political Economy of Automotive Manufacturing.

Anti-apartheid work

In 1976, with the spread of the Soweto uprising into other areas of the country, Mufamadi became a member of Zoutpansberg Students Organisation, which led to the

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

s in Venda during October 1977. Many student leaders were

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

ed, and others, including Mufamadi, went underground. When the

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes co ...

s re-opened, he was refused re-admission and was briefly prevented from completing his schooling. He moved to Johannesburg and enrolled at an international Correspondence College. In 1977, he joined the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

, the next year he was a founder member of the

Azanian People's Organisation The Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) is a South African liberation movement and political party. The organisation's two student wings are the Azanian Students' Movement (AZASM) for high school learners and the other being for university leve ...

and in 1981 he joined the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing N ...

. His involvement in AZAPO led to two months' detention without trial at John Vorster Square, Johannesburg, under section 6 of the Terrorism Act. In 1980, Mufamadi worked as a private teacher at Lamula Secondary School,

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a ...

, where he assisted members 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 ...

with political activities. In 1981, he left the teaching profession to work as a messenger for a firm of attorneys and subsequently joined the General and Allied Workers Union and participated in the 16 June stay-away that year. After his employer saw a newspaper clipping of Mufamadi addressing the workers, he was fired for taking part in political activities. He worked voluntarily for GAWU, and in 1982 and 1984 was elected General Secretary of the organisation. In 1983, he attended the launch of the United Democratic Front in

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 ...

, and was later elected Transvaal publicity secretary of the organisation, a position he held until 1990. In 1984 he was detained twice in the

Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...

during April and again in September. Following the successful Transvaal regional stay-away in November 1984, Mufamadi was

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

ed to appear as a

state witness State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our ...

at the trial of some of its organisers. However, when some of the accused fled the country, charges were withdrawn and he was not called to testify. In 1985, when the state of emergency was declared, Mufamadi operated underground to avoid detention, resurfacing to help organise and attend the December 1985 launch of the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union expelled ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, where he was elected Assistant General Secretary at its inaugural rally. He operated underground from June 1986 to October 1986, but openly resumed his work despite the continuing state of emergency. He was again detained on 8 June 1987 for political activities. In June 1988, Mufamadi headed a planning committee to organise an anti-apartheid conference in Cape Town, which aimed to include delegates from a broad spectrum of anti-apartheid organisations. In September 1988, the government prohibited the conference and restricted the organisers of the conference from entering Cape Town for a ten-day period. In January 1990, he travelled with the

Rivonia Trial The Rivonia Trial took place in South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and the others among the accused who were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life at the Palace of Justic ...

ists to Lusaka,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, to meet with the ANC Executive Committee. In 1991, he was elected to the party's central committee, and was elected to the party's National Executive Committee and to serve on its working committee at an ANC congress held in Durban in July later that year. He did not stand for re-election as COSATU Assistant General Secretary that year. He was an SACP delegate at the

Convention for a Democratic South Africa Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...

working group A working group, or working party, is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. The groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdis ...

, which dealt with the future of the independent

Bantustans A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now ...

, or

homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

Government work

After the 1994 general election, Mufamadi was appointed as Minister of Safety and Security in the Government of National Unity until 1999, after having served on the sub-council on law and order of the

Transitional Executive Council The Transitional Executive Council (TEC) was a multiparty body in South Africa that was established by law to facilitate the transition to democracy, in the lead-up to the country's first non-racial election in April 1994. As part of the multi ...

. Mufamadi has been the Minister of Provincial and Local Government since 17 June 1999. Following the resignation of President Mbeki in September 2008, Mufamadi was among those members of the Cabinet who submitted their resignations on September 23."Confusion rattles markets"
Sapa (''IOL''), September 23, 2008.

Personal life

Mufamadi is married to Nomusa and has three children.

References

External links

Department of Provincial and Local Government website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mufamadi, Sydney 1959 births Living people People from Alexandra, Gauteng Alumni of the University of London South African Venda people South African Communist Party politicians African National Congress politicians Azanian People's Organisation politicians Government ministers of South Africa