37 Facts About Aaron Motsoaledi

Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi was born on 7 August 1958 and is a South African politician is the Minister of Health in the cabinet of South Africa, having been appointed in this position with effect 3 July 2024.

Aaron Motsoaledi was previously the Minister of Home Affairs from 2019 to 2024 as well as the Minister of Health from 2009 to 2019.

Aaron Motsoaledi held the position throughout Zuma's presidency, during which time he developed the policy and legislative framework for a new system of National Health Insurance.

Aaron Motsoaledi was elected to his fourth consecutive term on the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2022.

Aaron Motsoaledi was born on 7 August 1958 in Phokwane, a village in the Sekhukhuneland region of the former Northern Transvaal.

Aaron Motsoaledi went on to study medicine at the University of Natal, where he served on the medical school's student representative council from 1980, succeeding Zweli Mkhize as its president in 1982.

Aaron Motsoaledi was a founding member of the Azanian Students' Organisation and was elected as its national correspondence secretary, serving under president Joe Phaahla.

Aaron Motsoaledi attended the launch of the United Democratic Front in Mitchells Plain in 1983 and helped establish UDF structures at the University of Natal.

Aaron Motsoaledi practiced as a doctor in the Northern Transvaal, including through his own surgery in Jane Furse.

Aaron Motsoaledi was chairperson of the Hlahlolanang Health and Nutrition Education Project in 1989.

Aaron Motsoaledi was deputy chairperson of the Northern Transvaal branch from 1991 to 1992, and in 1994, ahead of the upcoming democratic elections, he was a member of the party's elections task team in the province.

Aaron Motsoaledi was appointed to the Executive Council of Ngoako Ramatlhodi, the Premier of Limpopo, who named him as the province's inaugural Member of the Executive Council for Education.

Aaron Motsoaledi remained in the portfolio until 1 July 1997, when Ramatlhodi announced that Motsoaledi had been sacked and replaced by Joe Phaahla, his former AZASO colleague.

Aaron Motsoaledi retreated briefly from the provincial executive, serving as an ordinary Member of the Provincial Legislature.

Aaron Motsoaledi received 1,591 votes across roughly 3,600 ballots, making him the 56th-most popular member of the 80 candidates elected.

Aaron Motsoaledi's appointment was viewed as surprising, given that he was a relative "unknown" in national politics.

Aaron Motsoaledi appointed a ministerial task team to investigate maladministration at the Health Professions Council of South Africa, leading in 2016 to several high-level dismissals.

Aaron Motsoaledi's ministry launched a R1.4-billion HIV testing and counselling programme in March 2010, hailed by the South African National Aids Council as the largest programme of its kind "in the history of the Aids pandemic around the world".

Above all Aaron Motsoaledi was commended for expanding access to antiretroviral treatment.

Aaron Motsoaledi linked the initiative to his critique of the private healthcare sector, which he said was a "brutal system" that had brought about "rampant commercialisation" in healthcare.

Finally, Aaron Motsoaledi introduced the draft Medical Schemes Amendment Bill and NHI Bill in Parliament in June 2018.

Aaron Motsoaledi said that he had declared war on trans fatty acids and that not even his cabinet colleagues were exempt from his campaign: according to Motsoaledi, he used "every available opportunity" in cabinet meetings to lecture about healthy diets.

Aaron Motsoaledi said that he would support bans on electronic cigarettes and on alcohol advertising.

Aaron Motsoaledi was re-elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2012, ranked 18th of 80 by popularity.

Aaron Motsoaledi was appointed as the committee's chief representative in the troubled provincial branch of the Western Cape, and he was elected to a five-year term on the influential 20-member National Working Committee.

In November 2016, when opposition parties pursued a no-confidence motion against Zuma in Parliament, Aaron Motsoaledi did not arrive to vote in Zuma's favour, thus defying a three-line whip.

Ahead of the ANC's 54th National Conference, held at Nasrec in December 2017, Aaron Motsoaledi supported Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa's successful campaign to succeed Zuma as ANC president.

Aaron Motsoaledi was retained as Minister of Health in Ramaphosa's cabinet when Ramaphosa replaced Zuma as President of South Africa in February 2018.

In November 2019, Aaron Motsoaledi was named as a person of interest in the investigation into the murder of Bloemfontein businessman Louis Siemens.

Aaron Motsoaledi strongly denied the allegation, saying that he had never met or spoken to Bakili.

Aaron Motsoaledi repeated his denial on the stand when called to testify in the case in the Free State High Court.

Aaron Motsoaledi was a prominent figure in the state's response to the 2022 prison break of Thabo Bester, as well as in the development and passage of the Electoral Amendment Act of 2023, which, on the instruction of the Constitutional Court, introduced electoral reforms to allow independent candidacies.

Aaron Motsoaledi's critics accused him of fuelling xenophobia in South Africa.

The ANC's 55th National Conference was held in December 2022, and Aaron Motsoaledi was re-elected to the National Executive Committee; he received 1,448 votes across roughly 4,000 ballots, making him the 27th-most popular member of the committee.

Aaron Motsoaledi was appointed as the committee's chief representative in the Eastern Cape and as deputy chairperson of the subcommittee on education, health, science and technology, under chairperson Peggy Nkonyeni.

Aaron Motsoaledi is married to Thelma Dikeledi, who is a businesswoman.

Aaron Motsoaledi said that he insisted his family attend public school and use public health facilities.