26 Facts About Mduduzi Manana

Mduduzi Comfort Manana was born on 12 February 1984 and is a South African politician from Mpumalanga.

Mduduzi Manana was the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training from 2012 to 2017 and represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly from 2009 to 2018.

Mduduzi Manana resigned from that office in August 2017 after he was charged with assaulting three women outside a Johannesburg nightclub; he pled guilty to the charges the following month.

Mduduzi Manana remained an ordinary member of the National Assembly until July 2018, when he submitted to ongoing pressure to resign.

Mduduzi Manana has been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee since December 2017.

Mduduzi Manana was born on 12 February 1984 in Ermelo in the former Eastern Transvaal.

Mduduzi Manana is the only child of Sibongile Manana, a single mother and politician of the African National Congress.

Mduduzi Manana became involved in politics as a teenager, joining the Congress of South African Students and ANC Youth League in 1998.

Mduduzi Manana went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology at the University of Natal.

Mduduzi Manana was elected to the ANC Youth League's National Executive Committee for the first time in 2008.

Mduduzi Manana stood as an ANC candidate in the 2009 general election and won a seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament.

Mduduzi Manana was re-elected to the ANC Youth League National Executive Committee in June 2011, and he was considered, by opponents of incumbent league president Julius Malema, as a possible contender to run for higher office in the league.

Mduduzi Manana's statement put him in alignment with President Jacob Zuma, who was pursuing Malema's removal, and his comments led league deputy president Ronald Lamola to condemn his "ill-discipline".

On 12 June 2012, President Zuma announced a cabinet reshuffle in which Mduduzi Manana was appointed as Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training.

Mduduzi Manana deputised Blade Nzimande and, aged 28, became the youngest deputy minister in the post-apartheid period.

In Duma's account, Mduduzi Manana had slapped one of the women and pulled her hair and then had slapped another outside the club, as Mduduzi Manana's friends attacked the others.

Journalists were not allowed inside the courtroom, leading to allegations that Mduduzi Manana was receiving preferential treatment, but Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said that he "will not be treated with special kid gloves but will face the full wrath of the law".

On 13 September 2017, Mduduzi Manana was convicted on three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, having pled guilty to assaulting the women.

Mduduzi Manana was required to complete anger-management classes and 500 hours of community service, and to compensate the victims for their medical expenses, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm.

Mduduzi Manana released his own lengthy statement, admitting that his behaviour at Cubana was "shameful" and inexcusable.

Reportedly granted political leeway as a loyalist of President Zuma, Mduduzi Manana retained his seat as an ordinary member of the National Assembly.

Wiro later withdrew the complaint, but the Sunday Times reported that she did so after Mduduzi Manana offered her R100,000 as a "consolation".

The newspaper said that it had an audio recording of Mduduzi Manana making the offer.

Mduduzi Manana said that the recording in fact captured an attempt by Wiro and her family to blackmail him.

Mduduzi Manana said that he would sue her for extortion and denied that he had assaulted her, conceding that there had been an "altercation" but saying that it had ended with him asking her to leave his house.

Mduduzi Manana succeeded in having the disqualification overturned and gained re-election at the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022.