Gwede Mantashe

Gwede Mantashe (born 21 June 1955,^[1] Cala) is a South African politician, who currently serves as the Secretary General of the African National Congress. He is also a former chairperson of the South African Communist Party.

Posts

Born in 1955 in Cala in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Mantashe was the Secretary-General of the National Union of Mineworkers until their 12th National Conference held in May 2006 where he was succeeded by Frans Baleni. He made history by becoming the first trade unionist to be appointed to the board of Directors of a JSE Limited-listed company, namely Samancor, in 1995.

He served for two years as Chairperson of the Technical Working Group of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa).

He was the chairperson of the South African Communist Party until July 2012,.^[2] He is currently a member of the Politburo of the South African Communist Party. He was elected Secretary-General of the African National Congress at the party's 52nd national conference in 2007.

Leadership of the ANC

Following a marathon meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress held behind closed doors on 19 and 20 September 2008 at Esselen Park Conference Centre, Gwede Mantashe announced at a news conference that the President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, had been "recalled" by the Party.

In February 2010 Julius Malema called on Mantashe to resign after Malema was booed at the SA Communist Party's special conference in Polokwane. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) publicly backed Mantashe. "Mantashe is being singled out and targeted because he is a communist," Numsa general-secretary Irvan Jim said.^[3][4]

He delivered the Inaugural Violet Seboni memorial lecture at the Johannesburg City Hall on 16 April 2010, where he addressed corruption in the ANC. He said "The new order [after 1994]... inherited a well-entrenched value system that placed individual acquisition of wealth at the very centre of the value system of our society as a whole".^[5]

References

African National Congress
History
Leaders Secretary-General 1912–1915 S. T. Plaatje 1915–1917 R. V. S. Thema 1917–1919 S. Msane 1919–1923 H.L. Bud-M'belle 1923–1927 T. D. Mweli-Skota 1927–1930 E. J. Khaile 1930–1936 E. Mdolomba 1936–1949 James Calata 1949–1955 W. M. U. Sisulu 1955–1958 O. R. Tambo 1958–1969 P. P. D. Nokwe 1969–1991 A. B. Nzo 1991–1997 M. C. Ramaphosa 1997–2007 K. Motlanthe 2007–present G. Mantashe President 1912–1917 J. L. Dube 1917–1924 S. M. Makgatho 1924–1927 Z. R. Mahabane 1927–1930 J. T. Gumede 1930–1936 P. ka Isaka Seme 1937–1940 Z. R. Mahabane 1940–1949 A. B. Xuma 1949–1952 J. S. Moroka 1952–1967 A. J. Lutuli 1967–1991 O. R. Tambo 1991–1997 N. R. Mandela 1997–2007 T. M. Mbeki 2007–present J. G. Zuma Deputy President 1952–1958 N. R. Mandela 1958–1985 O. R. Tambo 1985–1991 N. R. Mandela 1991–1994 W. M. U. Sisulu 1994–1997 T. M. Mbeki 1997–2007 J. G. Zuma 2007–2012 K. Motlanthe 2012-present M. C. Ramaphosa
National Conferences	38th (1949) 39th (1950) 40th (1951) 41st (1952) 42nd (1953) 43rd (1954) 44th (1955) 45th (1957) 46th (1958) 47th (1959) 48th (1991) 49th (1994) 50th (1997) 51st (2002) 52nd (2007) 53rd (2012)
Structure and wings	ANC Today ANC Women's League ANC Youth League National Executive Committee Radio Freedom Umkhonto we Sizwe
Allied organizations	Congress of South African Trade Unions South African Communist Party
Category