Joe Maswanganyi | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Transport | |
| In office 31 March 2017 – 26 February 2018 | |
| President | Jacob Zuma |
| Deputy | Sindisiwe Chikunga |
| Preceded by | Dipuo Peters |
| Succeeded by | Blade Nzimande |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 27 May 2015 | |
| Provincial Secretary of the Limpopo African National Congress | |
| In office July 2008 – December 2011 | |
| Deputy | Pinky Kekana |
| Chairperson | Cassel Mathale |
| Preceded by | Cassel Mathale |
| Succeeded by | Soviet Lekganyane |
| Deputy President of the African National Congress Youth League | |
| In office March 1998 – April 2001 | |
| President | Malusi Gigaba |
| Succeeded by | Rubben Mohlaloga |
| Member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature | |
| In office 1997–2014 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mkhacani Joseph Maswanganyi (1966-04-14)14 April 1966 (age 59) Giyani,Transvaal South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Alma mater | University of South Africa University of the Free State University of Venda |
Mkhacani Joseph Maswanganyi (born 14 April 1966) is aSouth African politician fromLimpopo Province. He represents theAfrican National Congress (ANC) in theNational Assembly, where he is the chairperson of theStanding Committee on Finance. He was formerly theMinister of Transport from March 2017 to February 2018.
A teacher by training, Maswanganyi served in theLimpopo Provincial Legislature before he joined theNational Assembly in May 2015. He was a Member of theLimpopo Executive Council under PremiersNgoako Ramatlhodi andSello Moloto. On 31 March 2017, after two years as a backbencher, Maswaganyi was promoted to Minister of Transport in thesecond cabinet of PresidentJacob Zuma. Zuma's successor, PresidentCyril Ramaphosa, sacked him from the cabinet in February 2018, whereafter he chaired thePortfolio Committee on Transport until he was elected to his current committee chairmanship after the2019 general election.
During his tenure in the provincial legislature, Maswanganyi was the Deputy President of theANC Youth League from 1998 to 2001 under league presidentMalusi Gigaba. After that, he was a member of the ANCProvincial Executive Committee inLimpopo, where he served as ANCProvincial Secretary from July 2008 to December 2011. He has been a member of the ANCNational Executive Committee sinceDecember 2017.
Maswanganyi was born on 14 April 1966[1] inGiyani in the formerTransvaal.[2] He grew up in Mudabula, a village in nearbyMalamulele.[3] After matriculating in 1988, he trained as a teacher.[3] Later, after theend of apartheid, he completed a Bachelor of Arts from theUniversity of South Africa in 2000, a Master's degree in governance and political transformation from theUniversity of the Free State in 2006, and a second Master's degree in political science from theUniversity of Venda in 2016.[3]
Maswanganyi worked as a teacher until 1994, when he entered politics full-time.[2] He was the chairperson of the Public Works Commission in 1997.[2]
From 1997 to 2014, Maswanganyi represented his political party, theAfrican National Congress (ANC), in theLimpopo Provincial Legislature.[4] During his first term in the legislature, he was also the national deputy president of theANC Youth League, deputisingMalusi Gigaba; he was succeeded byRubben Mohlaloga in April 2001, when he stepped down due to having passed the league's 35-year age limit.[5]
After serving in several committees in the legislature,[3] Maswanganyi was appointed to theExecutive Council of Limpopo under PremierNgoako Ramatlhodi, who appointed him asMember of the Executive Council (MEC) for Local Government and Housing. In this capacity, in early 2002, Maswanganyi became the figurehead of a government campaign to change the names of major cities in the province, including by renaming the capital,Pietersburg, as Polokwane.[6] Maswanganyi said the current names were "a sad reminder of a history of oppressive colonial practices".[7] The oppositionFreedom Front said that it would protest the scheme through civil disobedience by withholding municipal property taxes.[8]
In 2004, Maswanganyi was moved to a new portfolio as MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture in 2004.[2] He was sacked from that position in November 2006 in a reshuffle by Ramatlhodi's successor, PremierSello Moloto.[9] He was succeeded byJoyce Mashamba, who hailed him for having "unified the nation" during his time in the portfolio.[10] Moloto subsequently denied that Maswanganyi's dismissal was part of a "purge" of his opponents; instead, he said that Maswanganyi had followed improper procedure in employing about 200 community development workers.[11]
On 20 July 2008, at a provincial party elective conference at theUniversity of Venda, Maswanganyi was elected to the influential position ofProvincial Secretary of the Limpopo branch of the ANC. He served under newly elected Provincial ChairpersonCassel Mathale, andPinky Kekana was elected as his deputy.[12] Although Maswanganyi, Mathale, and other top leaders were perceived, at the time of their election, as united in their support for ANC presidentJacob Zuma,[13] Mathale later fell out with Zuma, while Maswanganyi remained a supporter.[14]
At the party's next provincial elective conference in December 2011, Maswanganyi stood for re-election on a slate of candidates aligned toJoe Phaahla, who sought to unseat Mathale from the chairmanship at the same conference.[15][16][17][18] However, he was defeated bySoviet Lekganyane, who received 601 votes to Maswanganyi's 517.[19]
On 27 May 2015, Maswanganyi was sworn in to theNational Assembly, the lower house of theSouth African Parliament. He filled the seat that had been vacated whenCollins Chabane died.[20] During his first two years in the assembly, Maswanganyi was a backbencher, serving on thePortfolio Committee on Transport and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General.[4][21]
Just after midnight in the early hours of 31 March 2017, President Zuma announced a controversialcabinet reshuffle in which Maswanganyi was appointed to replaceDipuo Peters asMinister of Transport.[22] His deputy wasSindisiwe Chikunga.[23] In the immediate aftermath of the announcement, the national Automobile Association expressed concern about Peters's abrupt and unexplained dismissal.[24] However, theMail & Guardian was less surprised by Maswanganyi's promotion, noting that theANC Youth League and Limpopo ANC had "long punted him for a position in the cabinet"; indeed, the newspaper said that he "may hold the record as the politician who has been most often tipped to be elevated to high office only to be passed over time and again".[25]
By the end of the year, theMail & Guardian said that Maswanganyi appeared still "to be searching for his bearings" in the ministry.[26] During the same period, he received media coverage for undertaking to appointDudu Myeni, the controversial former chairperson ofSouth African Airways, as a special adviser in his office; defending the appointment, he told theSunday Times that he "needed someone with aviation experience".[27][28]
At the ANC's54th National Conference atNasrec in December 2017, Maswanganyi was elected to a five-year term as a member of the party'sNational Executive Committee. By number of votes received, he was ranked 49th of the 80 ordinary members elected to the committee.[29] However, ahead of the conference, he backed the losing presidential candidate: he was viewed as a key Limpopo lobbyist of Zuma's preferred successor,Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,[30][31] who was beaten at the conference by Deputy PresidentCyril Ramaphosa.
In February 2018, Ramaphosa was further elected to succeed Zuma asPresident of South Africa. In his firstcabinet reshuffle, announced on 26 February, he sacked Maswanganyi, replacing him withBlade Nzimande.[32] Maswanganyi remained in the National Assembly as an ordinary Member of Parliament.[4]
On 30 May 2018, ANC Chief WhipJackson Mthembu announced that the party would nominate Maswanganyi to chair Parliament'sPortfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration.[33] He was formally elected to the position at a committee meeting later the same day.[34] He succeeded Mathale, his former rival, whom Ramaphosa had appointed as a deputy minister.[33]
In the2019 general election, Maswanganyi was comfortably re-elected to the National Assembly, ranked 21st on the ANC's national party list.[4] After the election, the ANC announced that it would nominate him to chair theStanding Committee on Finance;[35] he was formally elected, unopposed, on 2 July 2019.[36] After his election, he told press that he would seek to ensure that longstanding investigations into misconduct atSteinhoff andVBS Mutual Bank would "reach a conclusion" during his tenure in the chair.[37]
At the ANC'snext national conference in December 2022, he was re-elected to the National Executive Committee, ranked 39th; he received 1,317 votes across about 4,000 ballots.[38]