27 Facts About Mathole Motshekga

Mathole Serofo Motshekga was born on 2 April 1949 and is a retired South African politician and lawyer.

Mathole Motshekga represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly of South Africa between May 2009 and May 2024, during which time he was the Chief Whip of the Majority Party from 2009 to 2013.

However, after the 1999 general election, newly elected President Thabo Mbeki asked Mathole Motshekga to resign as Premier.

In subsequent years, Mathole Motshekga served as an ordinary Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

Mathole Motshekga served two non-consecutive terms on the ANC National Executive Committee from 2007 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2022.

Mathole Motshekga was born on 2 April 1949 in Modjadjiskloof in what later became South Africa's Limpopo province.

Mathole Motshekga's father was a ranger on a white-owned farm, and he had younger siblings.

Mathole Motshekga matriculated in 1969 and, after graduation, worked as a clerk at the University of the North.

Mathole Motshekga received an LLB from Unisa in 1978 and enrolled to complete an LLD at the same university.

Mathole Motshekga did similar work while visiting the United States the following year.

Mathole Motshekga ultimately obtained both his LLD, from Unisa, and an LLM from Harvard Law School.

Mathole Motshekga maintained his contacts inside the ANC, which in the 1980s was based in Lusaka, Zambia.

At the time of South Africa's first post-apartheid election in 1994, Mathole Motshekga was Deputy Provincial Chairperson of the ANC branch in the country's new Gauteng province.

Mathole Motshekga's election followed a heated succession battle with multiple rounds of voting: Motshekga defeated Amos Masondo and then, in the final round of voting, beat Frank Chikane with 343 votes to Chikane's 179.

Mathole Motshekga was elected to return to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as an ordinary member in the 2004 general election.

At the ANC's 52nd National Conference in December 2007, Mathole Motshekga was elected to a five-year term on the ANC National Executive Committee, the party's top executive organ; by number of votes received, he ranked 53rd of the 80 candidates elected.

Mathole Motshekga served in that position until June 2013, becoming the party's longest-serving Chief Whip.

However, Mathole Motshekga was removed as Chief Whip before the end of his term because, at the ANC's next national conference in December 2012, he narrowly failed to gain re-election to the ANC NEC.

At a later date, after his removal as Chief Whip, Mathole Motshekga was in any case co-opted onto the ANC NEC.

Simultaneously, Mathole Motshekga remained an ordinary Member of Parliament, and he was re-elected to his seat in 2014 and 2019.

Mathole Motshekga served on a number of parliamentary committees, including as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services and Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament.

Mathole Motshekga publicly criticised President Jacob Zuma towards the end of Zuma's presidential term, and he was viewed as a supporter of Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mathole Motshekga did not stand for re-election to his parliamentary seat in the 2024 general election.

In 2019, the family accused Mathole Motshekga of attempting to turn the princess against them and "hijack" the throne.

In 2022, Mathole Motshekga took the family to court in a bid to challenge the coronation of Masalanabo's brother, Prince Lukukela, as Balobedu monarch; he claimed that Masalanabo was the rightful heir to the throne.

Mathole Motshekga believes in a religion which he calls Karaism and describes as an indigenous African religion.

Mathole Motshekga is married to cabinet minister Angie Motshekga, with whom he has a son, Kabelo, and grandchildren.