Department Of Agriculture Forestry And Fisheries Minister
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Personal
Place of Birth: Eastern Cape
Date of Birth: 04 March 1956
Current Positions
Mr Senzeni Zokwana is the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Republic of South Africa from 26 May 2014.
He is also chairperson of the South African Communist Party and a Member of Parliament.
Career/Positions/Memberships/Other Activities
Mr Zokwana previously served as the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
He became involved in trade union activism in 1980 during the apartheid-era in South Africa at the President Steyn gold mine in the Free State. He joined the ranks of NUM in 1983, became a shaft steward in 1984 and was elected to the branch executive committee in the President Steyn Mine in 1985.
He subsequently moved up the ranks to become branch chairperson in 1987, vice regional chairperson in 1992 and regional chairperson from 1993 to 1994. He was first a shift overseer on safety matters and in 1995, he joined the NUM staff as a safety officer, after proving himself a dedicated advocate of modern mine safety techniques.
Mr Zokwane was elected as vice president in 1994; a position he held until 2000 when he was elected president. He was subsequently, re-elected for the role and held the position until 2014.
In 2005, he was elected as president of the International Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers’ Federation at a special election and was re-elected in November 2011.
Mr Zokwana was also elected as Vice-President of industrial Global Union at its founding congress on 19 June 2012.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Mr Sfiso Buthelezi
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MP was born in Mahlabatini, KZN, in 1961 and attended many schools including St Francis College, Marianhill, and Vryheid High School, where he matriculated. He studied for a BSc degree at Turfloop but skipped the country to join the ANC as a guerrilla in Angola and the then Soviet Union, where he held different positions as a Commissar and Commander.
Mr Buthelezi operated underground in Ingwavuma, where he was eventually arrested by Apartheid forces and sentenced to 10 years in prison by a racist court. He ended up on Robben Island, where, more importantly, he continued with his political and academic education.
While on Robben Island he passed a Diploma in Accounting and a BCom Degree in Economics. On his release he registered and passed BCom (Hons) (Economics) and MCom (Economics) from the University of Cape Town. He also passed Economic Policy Analysis Course at the National Institute of Economic Policy, and also got placement with the Central Bank of Canada.
Mr Buthelezi was COO of Makana Investment Corporation (Pty) Ltd, First CEO of the National Gambling Board, has served as Economic Advisor to the first MEC for Economic Affairs KZN, the former President of RSA, Mr Jacob Zuma, and also as the Economic Advisor to the former Premier of Mpumalanga, Dr Matthews Phosa.
Mr Buthelezi has also served on many other Boards, including PRASA (Chairman), Transnet, Robben Island Ferries and was the Chairman of Octagon SA. He has particular interest in Economic Developments in South Africa and the world over. He is also a keen scholar of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment.
In March 2016, Mr Buthelezi was sworn in as an ANC MP in the National Assembly, where he also served in the Finance Committee. On 31 March 2017, Mr Buthelezi was sworn in as the Deputy Minister of Finance. He also chairs the Board of the Public Investment Corporation