39 Facts About Nomvula Mokonyane

Nomvula Paula Mokonyane was born on 28 June 1963 and is a South African politician who is currently the First Deputy Secretary-General of the African National Congress.

Nomvula Mokonyane was the first female Premier of Gauteng from 2009 to 2014 and subsequently served in the national government as Minister of Water and Sanitation from 2014 to 2018, Minister of Communications in 2018, and Minister of Environmental Affairs from 2018 to 2019.

Nomvula Mokonyane was first elected as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in 1994 and she served as a Member of the Executive Council in Gauteng from 1996 to 2009.

Nomvula Mokonyane went on to lead the ANC's internal organising department at Luthuli House until her election to the Deputy Secretary-General post at the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022.

In March 2022, the Zondo Commission recommended that Nomvula Mokonyane should be prosecuted on charges of corruption in connection with allegations that she accepted bribes from Bosasa.

Nomvula Mokonyane was born on 28 June 1963 in Kagiso, a township in Krugersdorp on the West Rand of the Transvaal.

Nomvula Mokonyane had six elder sisters and five elder brothers.

Nomvula Mokonyane was arrested for her activism during the 1985 state of emergency, shortly after her wedding and while in the first trimester of a pregnancy.

Nomvula Mokonyane gave birth while still detained under the Internal Security Act.

In 1997, Nomvula Mokonyane testified about her experience in detention while representing FEDTRAW at a women's hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In South Africa's first post-apartheid election in 1994, Nomvula Mokonyane was elected as an ordinary Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

Nomvula Mokonyane served on the national executive of the ANC Women's League and in February 1995 was one of eleven senior members of the league, reportedly led by Adelaide Tambo, who staged a walkout in protest of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's leadership.

Nomvula Mokonyane was an active member of the South African Communist Party, a close partner of the ANC; she was Provincial Treasurer of the SACP in Gauteng by 1997 and ultimately served two terms on the SACP Central Committee from 1998 to 2007.

In October 2007, while Housing MEC, Nomvula Mokonyane launched an unsuccessful campaign to succeed Mbhazima Shilowa as Provincial Chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng.

Nomvula Mokonyane was Premier of Gauteng from 6 May 2009 to 20 May 2014.

Nomvula Mokonyane was nominated to the premiership by outgoing Premier Paul Mashatile, who was a Member of the Provincial Legislature, but her election was presumably the result of an instruction to the ANC caucus from the ANC National Executive Committee, which had announced that Mokonyane was its preferred candidate.

In particular, the Gauteng branch of the ANC Youth League protested Nomvula Mokonyane's appointment, calling instead for Mashatile's re-election.

Ahead of the provincial ANC's next leadership elections, Nomvula Mokonyane was presumed to have the support of the National Executive Committee in her bid to succeed Mashatile as ANC Provincial Chairperson.

Nomvula Mokonyane was succeeded as Deputy Provincial Chairperson by Gwen Ramokgopa and declined to seek re-election to an ordinary seat on the ANC Provincial Executive Committee.

Nonetheless, Nomvula Mokonyane was elected to another five-year term on the ANC National Executive Committee at the party's 53rd National Conference in December 2012; she was ranked 25th by popularity of the 80 elected candidates.

In October 2013, Nomvula Mokonyane was criticised for remarks she made on a visit to Bekkersdal, Gauteng, during violent service delivery protests in the town.

In subsequent days, Nomvula Mokonyane announced that the government would establish a multi-level task team to investigate allegations of corruption and improve administration in Bekkersdal.

In 2013, Nomvula Mokonyane indicated that she intended to run for re-election as Premier, but the ANC National Executive Committee reportedly snubbed her while considering candidates.

Controversial decisions taken by Nomvula Mokonyane included the R4-billion decision to delay Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which Nomvula Mokonyane said was related to the need to ensure that the project served the imperative of economic transformation but which senior officials said was part of an attempt to ensure that related state contracts went to LTE Consulting, an ANC donor.

On 27 February 2018, Nomvula Mokonyane was appointed Minister of Communications in a reshuffle of the cabinet by newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office after Zuma resigned.

On 22 November 2018, in a minor reshuffle by Ramaphosa, Nomvula Mokonyane was shifted to the Ministry of Environmental Affairs.

Nomvula Mokonyane nevertheless remained in the cabinet until 25 May 2019, when Ramaphosa announced his new cabinet after his re-election in the 2019 general election.

Nomvula Mokonyane was listed tenth on the ANC's party list during the national election, securing Nomvula Mokonyane her first full term in a seat in the National Assembly, and the ANC announced that Ramaphosa did not intend to reappoint her to cabinet but would instead nominate her to serve as a presiding officer in the assembly, as House Chairperson for Committees.

However, when Parliament opened, the ANC said that Nomvula Mokonyane had withdrawn from the party list and would not be sworn into Parliament due to family responsibilities.

In May 2019, after Nomvula Mokonyane declined to be sworn into Parliament, the ANC said that it would assign her to the party's headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg.

Nomvula Mokonyane was appointed to a full-time role as the ANC's Head of Organising, in which capacity she helped introduce a new digital system for recording party membership.

Nomvula Mokonyane remained head of organising until the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022, when she was elected First Deputy Secretary-General of the national ANC.

Nomvula Mokonyane emerged as a frontrunner for the position during the nominations stage, when she was the favourite candidate of local party branches in her home province, Gauteng, and four other provinces.

Nomvula Mokonyane's candidacy was endorsed by the provincial leadership in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as by leaders of the ANC Youth League and ANC Women's League.

In 2019, Nomvula Mokonyane was implicated in possible corruption by Angelo Agrizzi, the former chief operating officer at Bosasa.

When Nomvula Mokonyane testified before the commission in July 2020, she admitted that she had been friendly with Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson, but denied having received any bribes or personal gifts from Bosasa.

Nomvula Mokonyane continued to deny the allegations, labelling them "total rubbish"; she said that the report "hurt, looking at what I sold for the freedom of this country, and what I'm still doing for the freedom of this country, in defence of the hard-won independence of this country".

Nomvula Mokonyane accused the commission and its chairperson, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, of meddling in politics, and announced that she intended to seek judicial review of the report.

Nomvula Mokonyane was married to Serge Mokonyane, whom she met in 1984 at a June 16 rally.