Michael Collen Sedibe was born on 23 September 1971 and is a South African politician who is currently a Member of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature and the provincial leader of the legislature's official opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters.
18 Facts About Collen Sedibe
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Collen Sedibe joined the EFF in 2013 after he was expelled from the African National Congress and he was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 2014 general election.
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Collen Sedibe matriculated in 1992 and in 1994 he enrolled in a public management degree at the University of the North at Turfloop, where he joined the South African Students Congress.
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Collen Sedibe was later active in the trade union movement and joined the African National Congress and its Youth League; his local ANC branch was in White River in Mpumalanga.
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Collen Sedibe remained active in the ANC: by 2012, he was Branch Chairperson of the ANC's White River branch.
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Collen Sedibe supported ANC Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's bid to unseat Jacob Zuma as ANC President at the party's 53rd National Conference; he became known for promoting Motlanthe's campaign in Mpumalanga.
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Collen Sedibe was known as an opponent of David Mabuza, who was the Premier of Mpumalanga between 2009 and 2018, and of the ANC faction aligned to Mabuza.
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On 18 April 2013, Collen Sedibe was involved in a violent altercation at a regional meeting of the ANC in Malalane.
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Collen Sedibe subsequently laid criminal charges against Ngwenya and Mhlongo, both of whom were convicted of assault.
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However, the ANC alleged that Collen Sedibe had disrupted the April 2013 meeting, as well as two other party meetings, and he was subjected to an internal disciplinary hearing.
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Collen Sedibe was expelled from the party and joined the Economic Freedom Fighters, a newly launched opposition party.
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Collen Sedibe was elected to one of two EFF-held seats in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature.
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In January 2017, Collen Sedibe was involved in planning a political demonstration which he described on Facebook as "a land occupation programme which will take place between White River and Hillsview".
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Collen Sedibe later explained that the EFF had planned to target unoccupied government-owned land, rather than to invade occupied properties.
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However, a week later, Collen Sedibe was arrested again, immediately after he and another EFF legislator, Alfred Skhosana, were ejected from the legislature for disrupting Premier Mabuza's State of the Province address.
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Collen Sedibe was formally installed as the chairperson of the EFF's Mpumalanga branch, although News24 reported that there were tensions within the provincial party about Collen Sedibe's style of leadership.
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Collen Sedibe was re-elected as EFF Provincial Chairperson in September 2018, with Sam Zandamela as his deputy.
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Collen Sedibe was on the EFF's national party list, for election to the South African Parliament, but, ranked 179th, he did not gain election to a national seat.