Thabang Makwetla

Thabang Makwetla
Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services for Correctional Services
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 May 2014
Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
In office 11 May 2009 – 25 May 2014
Succeeded by	Kebby Maphatsoe
Premier of Mpumalanga
In office 21 April 2004 – 10 May 2009
Personal details
Born	(1957-05-18) 18 May 1957
Nationality	South Africa
Political party	African National Congress

Thabang Samson Phathakge Makwetla (born 18 May 1957) is the current Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services in South Africa with special responsibility for Correctional Services, former Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans and former Premier of Mpumalanga.^[1] He is a member of the African National Congress (ANC). Inside of the ANC, he is a supporter of former South African President Thabo Mbeki. As a consequence of this support and Jacob Zuma's election as ANC President at the 2007 party conference, Makwetla will lose his position of regional chairperson of Mpumalanga.^[2]

Exile

Makwetla joined the South African Students Movement in 1974 and went into exile in 1976, joining the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe in the same year. While in exile, he lived in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho and Zambia. Besides receiving an education abroad, Makwetla served the South African Communist Party in the Botswana region from 1986 to 1988.

Education

Makwetla graduated from Mmabathoana High School in Lesotho in 1977 and later from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia.

References