Vusumuzi Cyril Xaba was born on 14 February 1967 and is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal.
22 Facts About Cyril Xaba
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Cyril Xaba has been the Mayor of eThekwini since July 2024.
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Cyril Xaba represented the ANC in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature for three consecutive terms between 1994 and 2009, before taking a brief hiatus to serve as head of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Planning Commission and special adviser to the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.
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Cyril Xaba returned to the provincial legislature between 2014 and 2019, and he served in the Executive Council of KwaZulu-Natal from 2014 to 2016, appointed as Member of the Executive Council for Agriculture and Rural Development under Premier Senzo Mchunu.
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Cyril Xaba joined the National Assembly in the May 2019 general election and chaired the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans during the Sixth Parliament.
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Cyril Xaba attended Ziphathele High School in Clermont, where he was active in the local leadership of the anti-apartheid Natal Students Congress and Congress of South African Students.
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Cyril Xaba was active in the South African Students Congress as a student, and he was deputy president of the university's Black Students Society during his first year as a law student.
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Cyril Xaba did not complete his Bachelor of Laws, dropping out when he became a full-time politician in 1994.
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Cyril Xaba studied towards, but did not complete, a diploma in economic principles at the University of London.
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In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Cyril Xaba was elected to represent the ANC as a member of the newly established KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
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Cyril Xaba served a stint as the ANC's chief whip in the legislature.
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Cyril Xaba held that position until 2014 under Premier Zweli Mkhize and his successor Senzo Mchunu.
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Cyril Xaba oversaw a foot-and-mouth disease prevention campaign in the province.
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Cyril Xaba served the rest of the legislative term as an ordinary Member of the Provincial Legislature.
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Cyril Xaba held both positions during two major domestic deployments of the South African National Defence Force, first during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and then during the civil unrest of 2021.
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Alongside his defence portfolios, Cyril Xaba was a member of other high-profile portfolios.
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Cyril Xaba represented the National Assembly at the Judicial Service Commission.
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Meanwhile, in December 2022, Cyril Xaba attended the ANC's 55th National Conference, which elected him to his first five-year term as a member of the party's National Executive Committee.
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Cyril Xaba received 1,128 votes across roughly 4,000 ballots, making him the 50th-most popular member of the 80-member committee.
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Cyril Xaba, in turn, was sworn in to an ANC council seat in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.
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Cyril Xaba was immediately regarded as a possible candidate to succeed Kaunda, though there were reports that his ascension would face resistance both from inside the local ANC and from the ANC's coalition partners in the council, the Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party.
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Nonetheless, on 10 July 2024, Cyril Xaba was elected unopposed as mayor of eThekwini.