18 Facts About Murunwa Makwarela

Murunwa Makwarela was a South African politician, genetic engineer, academic and businessman who served as the Mayor of Tshwane, from 28 February 2023 until he was fired by the city manager on 7 March 2023 for being declared insolvent in 2016.

Murunwa Makwarela was born in 1972 in Cullinan outside Pretoria in the then-Transvaal Province of South Africa.

Murunwa Makwarela grew up in the village of Tshitereke in the Venda bantustan.

Murunwa Makwarela graduated from the University of Venda in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Botany and Zoology.

Murunwa Makwarela subsequently studied at the University of Natal's Durban campus from which he obtained an honours degree in Plant Biotechnology in 1995 followed by a Master of Science in Eucalyptus cold tolerance and tissue culture in 1997.

Murunwa Makwarela then found employment at the City of Tshwane as the strategic executive director of the municipality's Agriculture and Environmental Management Department between 2007 and 2012.

Murunwa Makwarela then proceeded to work for the TAHAL Group as the chief executive officer of the company's South African branch, TAHAL South Africa between 2012 and 2014.

Murunwa Makwarela served as a non-executive director and as board chairperson of the Biofuel Business Incubator from 2014 to 2019.

Murunwa Makwarela was a non-executive director at the SA Essential Oil Business Incubator as well.

Murunwa Makwarela served as a non-executive director at the Johannesburg Development Agency as chairperson of the HRREMCO committee from 2020 to 2021 and as a non-executive director at the Johannesburg Market from 2021 to 2022.

Murunwa Makwarela was a co-founder of and chairperson of the Maluti Green Med, a cannabis-licensed pharmaceutical company, based in Lesotho.

Murunwa Makwarela was appointed regional chairperson of the Congress of the People in Tshwane in 2020.

Murunwa Makwarela was elected as the party's lone proportional representation councillor in the City of Tshwane in the November 2021 local government elections.

Murunwa Makwarela was elected speaker of the Tshwane City Council on 20 January 2022 as part of a coalition agreement COPE signed with the Democratic Alliance, ActionSA, the African Christian Democratic Party, the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the Freedom Front Plus to form a majority government in the council.

Murunwa Makwarela's office sought legal advice and Murunwa Makwarela announced on 21 February 2023 that Williams' first resignation letter was valid and his second one not, which meant that the metro was now without a mayor.

The DA, as per the coalition agreement signed between the parties, nominated MP Cilliers Brink as their candidate whom Murunwa Makwarela initially pledged to support.

On 7 March 2023, Murunwa Makwarela was found to have violated Section 47 of the Constitution, after being found to have been declared insolvent in 2016.

Murunwa Makwarela died from a short illness on 23 April 2024, at the age of 51.