25 Facts About Dickson Masemola

Namane Dickson Masemola was born on 11 January 1968 and is a South African politician who currently serves as Deputy Minister for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Government of National Unity since June 2024.

Dickson Masemola has previously served as a Delegate to the National Council of Provinces since October 2022.

Under Mathale's successor, incumbent Premier Stan Mathabatha, Dickson Masemola was MEC for Public Works ; MEC for Transport ; MEC for Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure ; and MEC for Social Development.

In June 2022, Dickson Masemola campaigned unsuccessfully to depose Mathabatha as ANC Provincial Chairperson.

Dickson Masemola was born in 1967 or 1968 in Ga-Marishane in the Sekhukhune region of what is South Africa's Limpopo province.

Dickson Masemola later joined the African National Congress and volunteered in the party's election campaign during South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

In 2021, Dickson Masemola received a doctorate in administration from the University of Limpopo.

Dickson Masemola's thesis was about "the impact of leadership on socio-economic development of municipalities" in South Africa.

Dickson Masemola entered local government in 1999 and served as the Executive Mayor of Sekhukhune District Municipality from 2001 to 2009.

At a provincial elective conference in July 2008, held at the University of Venda, Dickson Masemola was elected Deputy Provincial Chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo, beating Motalane Monakedi by 238 votes.

In March 2009, Dickson Masemola resigned as mayor and was sworn into the Limpopo provincial legislature, filling a casual vacancy that arose after Sello Moloto, the incumbent Premier of Limpopo, defected from the ANC and was replaced by Mathale.

Dickson Masemola subsequently served as acting Member of the Executive Council for Roads and Transport in the Limpopo provincial government.

Dickson Masemola served in that office until 2013 and presided over substantial controversy in the provincial Department of Education.

However, in subsequent months, he fell out with Mathale and with Mathale's close ally Julius Malema: Dickson Masemola remained a staunch and vocal ally of President Jacob Zuma, while Mathale, Malema, and the rest of the ANC Limpopo Provincial Executive Committee had turned against Zuma and publicly called for him to be removed as ANC President at the ANC's upcoming national elective conference.

However, it was fairly widely anticipated that Zuma would fire Mathale as Premier and appoint Dickson Masemola to replace him.

Dickson Masemola was one of only two of Mathale's MECs who was not fired, but he was transferred from the Education portfolio to the Public Works portfolio.

However, Mathabatha did not reappoint him to the Executive Council, reportedly because he was displeased that Dickson Masemola had challenged him in the ANC's internal elections the previous year.

At the Limpopo ANC's next elective conference in June 2018, Mathabatha was re-elected unopposed as Provincial Chairperson, but Dickson Masemola was elected as an ordinary member of the Provincial Executive Committee.

Jacques Smalle, the provincial leader of the opposition DA, said that Dickson Masemola's appointment "had me scratching my head".

At that time Dickson Masemola was the chairperson of the board at MINTEK, a mining research company.

Dickson Masemola was viewed as a likely candidate in the race to succeed Mathabatha, who said in 2021 that he would not seek re-election as ANC Provincial Chairperson.

Dickson Masemola's campaign emphasised what the Daily Maverick called a "strong anti-corruption stance" and he, like Mathabatha, endorsed incumbent ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Dickson Masemola's candidacy was supported by the ANC's Norman Mashabane region, the largest in Limpopo, and by Soviet Lekganyane, the outgoing ANC Provincial Secretary.

Dickson Masemola's proposed slate would have seen Pule Shayi elected as his deputy and Lekganyane re-elected as Provincial Secretary.

Ahead of the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022, Dickson Masemola was nominated to stand for election to the ANC's 80-member National Executive Committee; he was nominated by 248 local party branches and was therefore the 98th most popular candidate.