Thulas Nxesi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Nxesi inParliament in September 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of Employment and Labour | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 30 May 2019 – 19 June 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Cyril Ramaphosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Boitumelo Moloi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mildred Oliphant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Nomakhosazana Meth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the National Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 May 2009 – 28 May 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy National Chairperson of the South African Communist Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office July 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General Secretary | Solly Mapaila Blade Nzimande | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Chairperson | Blade Nzimande Senzeni Zokwana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Joyce Moloi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Thembelani Waltermade Nxesi (1959-06-09)9 June 1959 (age 65) Matatiele,Cape Province Union of South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | African National Congress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | South African Communist Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Sesi Nxesi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Fort Hare Witwatersrand University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Thulas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thembelani Waltermade "Thulas" Nxesi (born 9 June 1959) is aSouth African politician and formertrade unionist who was theMinister of Employment and Labour from May 2019 to June 2024. A representative of theAfrican National Congress (ANC), he has been amember of cabinet since October 2011 and the Deputy National Chairperson of theSouth African Communist Party (SACP) since July 2012.
A teacher by profession, Nxesi rose to prominence as the General Secretary of theSouth African Democratic Teachers' Union from 1995 to 2009. He was also the President ofEducation International between 2004 and 2009. He entered theNational Assembly at the2009 general election, and in 2010 he was appointed asDeputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform in the government of PresidentJacob Zuma. The following year, Zuma promoted him to the cabinet, first asMinister of Public Works from 2011 to 2017 and then asMinister of Sport and Recreation from 2017 to 2018. Under Zuma's successor, PresidentCyril Ramaphosa, Nxesi returned briefly to the Ministry of Public Works in 2018 before he was appointed to his current position in 2019. He was also ActingMinister of Public Service and Administration from April 2022 to March 2023. Nxesi was ranked too low on the ANC's national list to be re-elected to Parliament at the2024 general election.
Nxesi was a member of the ANCNational Executive Committee from 2012 to 2017, and he was elected to his third five-year term as SACP Deputy National Chairperson in July 2022.
Nxesi was born on 1 January 1959[1] inMatatiele in the formerCape Province.[2] Schooled at the height ofapartheid, he was politically active from a young age as a student activist in theAzanian Students' Organisation and its successor, theSouth African National Student Congress;[2] he was expelled from school on several occasions for his political activities.[1] He graduated from theUniversity of Fort Hare with aBachelor of Arts in 1983, and he later completed aBachelor of Education atWitwatersrand University and a higher diploma in education at theUniversity of South Africa.[1]
In 1985, he took up a teaching job at Ikusasa Senior Secondary School inTembisa in the formerTransvaal. He headed the school'ssocial studies department until 1990.[1] During that period, he was a founding member and ultimately secretary of the National Education Union of South Africa, which was later merged into theSouth African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu).[1][2]
In 1990, Nxesi was elected as Assistant General Secretary of the newly formed Sadtu, and he was elected as General Secretary in 1995.[2] During his tenure in the secretariat, which lasted until 2009,[2] Sadtu became one of the largest affiliates of theCongress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). In addition, from 2004 to 2009, Nxesi was the President ofEducation International, a global federation of teachers' unions.[3]
In the2009 general election, Nxesi won election to a seat in theNational Assembly, the lower house of theSouth African Parliament; he stood as a candidate for theAfrican National Congress (ANC), Cosatu'sTripartite Alliance partner.[4] He was one of three unionists – the others beingAlina Rantsolase andNoluthando Mayende-Sibiya – who represented the ANC by way of the Tripartite Alliance.[5][2] In the aftermath of the election, the ANC announced that it would nominate Nxesi to chairParliament'sPortfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation.[6]
Nxesi joined the executive in a cabinet reshuffle announced by PresidentJacob Zuma on 31 October 2010. He was appointed asDeputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, serving under MinisterGugile Nkwinti.[7] Sadtu welcomed Zuma's announcement.[8]
In another cabinet reshuffle, announced on 24 October 2011, Zuma promoted Nxesi to the position ofMinister of Public Works. He succeededGwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, who was fired amid an investigation into a lease scandal that also implicated police commissionerBheki Cele.[9] Mahlangu-Nkabinde's former Deputy Minister,Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, was moved to a different ministry at the same time, leaving Nxesi without a deputy.[10]
One of Nxesi's first acts as Minister was to accept, on behalf ofthe cabinet, a memorandum of protest from theANC Youth League, which had marched to theUnion Buildings to demandland expropriation without compensation.[11] Nxesi said that he would review the ministry's workings and embark on "a listening campaign" before deciding on a strategy to turn around his newdepartment.[10] A fortnight later, he responded to the lease scandal by changing the department's process for approving new leases.[12]
In the run-up to the 13th National Congress of theSouth African Communist Party (SACP), held at theUniversity of Zululand in July 2012, Nxesi emerged as a likely candidate to succeedJoyce Moloi-Moropa as Deputy National Chairperson of the SACP.[13] He had recently been co-opted onto the party'sCentral Committee.[14] When the elections were held, he was elected unopposed, deputisingSenzeni Zokwana.[15] Months later, at the ANC's53rd National Conference in December 2012, Nxesi was elected to a five-year term as a member of the ANCNational Executive Committee.[16] By number of votes received, he was ranked 60th of the 80 ordinary members elected to the committee.[17]
Shortly after midnight on 30 March 2017, Zuma announced a cabinet reshuffle in which Nxesi was moved to a new office asMinister of Sport and Recreation.[18] Nxesi succeededFikile Mbalula in that office, and he said that his top priorities would include the transformation of sport and the promotion ofschool sports and youth development.[19]
Despite Nxesi's perceived support for Zuma during the Nkandla saga, theMail & Guardian observed by February 2016 that Nxesi and the SACP had "drifted apart" from Zuma.[20] Indeed, during ANC National Executive Committee meetings over the next year, Nxesi reportedly voiced support for both of two unsuccessfulmotions of no confidence in Zuma's ANC presidency, one tabled byDerek Hanekom in November 2016[21] and another tabled byJoel Netshitenzhe in May 2017.[22]
At the same time, SACP National Chairperson Senzeni Zokwana's failure to support the ANC motions of no confidence apparently drew the ire of a group of Zuma opponents in the SACP, who reportedly conspired to remove Zokwana from his post and remove him with Nxesi.[23] However, when the SACP's 14th National Congress was held in July 2017, both Zokwana and Nxesi were re-elected unopposed to their positions.[24] That December, at the ANC's54th National Conference, Nxesi failed to gain re-election to the ANC National Executive Committee.[25]
While Sports Minister, Nxesi personally boycotted atennis match betweenIsrael and South Africa, held in Pretoria during the2018 Davis Cup.[26] He was a supporter of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.[27][28] In an open letter, Nxesi wrote:
[G]iven the concerns that activists and fellow South Africans are raising regarding the presence of an Israeli team, I believe that it would not be proper for me to attend. International solidarity and theboycott against Apartheid South Africa played a big role in our liberation. Indeed, one of the most well-known slogans came out of that context – 'no normal sport with an abnormal regime!'[29]
His letter accused Israel of "practicing apartheid" inoccupied Palestine, and it also said that Nxesi had himself "experienced Israeli discrimination and occupation" when Israel denied him entry to Palestine years earlier.[29] In the earlier incident, Nxesi had led the South African delegation to a 2012 meeting of theNon-Aligned Movement's Committee on Palestine; the meeting was scheduled to take place inRamallah but had been blocked by Israeli authorities.[30][31]
In February 2018, newly elected ANC presidentCyril Ramaphosa waselected to succeed Zuma asPresident of South Africa. When Ramaphosa announced his new cabinet, Nxesi was returned to his former office as Minister of Public Works, replacingNathi Nhleko, who was fired.[32] Several months into his tenure, he asked Ramaphosa to authorise furthercorruption probes in his department, to be carried out by theSpecial Investigating Unit; briefing the media on the scale of the problem in the portfolio, Nxesi called for "a massive struggle against thestate capture forces which are still entrenched and desperately striving to keep open access to state coffers".[33]
Pursuant to the2019 general election, Nxesi was re-elected to his seat in the National Assembly,[4] and Ramaphosa appointed him asMinister of Employment and Labour.Boitumelo Moloi was appointed his deputy.[34]
In addition to his permanent ministry, Nxesi served as ActingMinister of Public Service and Administration from April 2022, after the incumbent,Ayanda Dlodlo, left to join the board of theWorld Bank.[35] He acted in Dlodlo's ministry for almost a full year. During that time, he oversaw the adoption of a new policy framework for theprofessionalisation of the public service;[36] he also presided over a prolonged wage dispute with theNational Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union, which led to strike action and which theMail & Guardian said "imperill[ed] whatever goodwill he has achieved with trade unions".[37][38] Ramaphosa replaced him with a permanent appointment,Noxolo Kiviet, in March 2023.[39]
Despite earlier rumours that Nxesi could face a challenge to his SACP leadership,[40] he was re-elected as Deputy National Chairperson in July 2022, now deputising Blade Nzimande.[41] At the ANC's55th National Conference in December 2022, he again failed to gain election to the ANC National Executive Committee.[42]
Nxesi had been ranked 109th on the ANC's national-to-national list for the2024 general election. Due to the ANC's drop in electoral support, Nxesi was not re-elected to Parliament.[43]
Nxesi is married to Sesi Nxesi, a former chief executive officer of theEducation Seta. Their 17-year-old daughter, Lona, died in June 2012 in a car accident nearKroonstad; she was travelling home toMidrand from her boarding school inBloemfontein.[44]