29 Facts About Sello Moloto

Phaswana Cleopus Sello Moloto was born on 27 August 1964 and is a South African politician and diplomat from Limpopo.

Sello Moloto was the second Premier of Limpopo from April 2004 until March 2009.

Sello Moloto resigned after defecting from the African National Congress to the Congress of the People.

Sello Moloto succeeded Moloto as Premier after the 2004 general election.

However, during the latter half of his term, Sello Moloto faced sustained political pressure from Cassel Mathale, Julius Malema, and other provincial politicians who supported Jacob Zuma's bid to succeed Thabo Mbeki as ANC President.

Sello Moloto served only one term as ANC Provincial Chairperson, from 2005 to 2008, before Mathale unseated him from that office.

Sello Moloto subsequently served as COPE's candidate for Premier of Limpopo during the 2009 general election.

Sello Moloto was born on 27 August 1964 in Claremont, a village near Bakenberg in the former Northern Transvaal.

Sello Moloto came from a poor rural family and started primary school late, but he matriculated at Bakenberg High School and entered the University of the North in 1985.

Sello Moloto became politically active at university and in 1989 he served as president of the local branch of the South African National Student Congress.

Sello Moloto joined the African National Congress and became chairman of a regional ANC branch in Waterberg.

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Sello Moloto was elected to an ANC seat in the Senate of South Africa, where he represented Limpopo Province.

Sello Moloto served in his seat until 1996, when the ANC transferred him back to Limpopo to serve as chief executive officer of the conservative Bushveld District Council, until then a predominantly white administration.

Sello Moloto was appointed to the Executive Council of Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who named him as Limpopo's Member of the Executive Council for Health and Welfare.

Sello Moloto's administration emphasised continuity: he retained eight of ten of Ramatlhodi's provincial ministers and a similar economic policy.

Sello Moloto did not stand for re-election as Deputy Provincial Secretary but instead won election unopposed as Provincial Chairperson.

In December 2006, the provincial ANC Youth League lambasted Sello Moloto for having said that Zuma's criminal charges were personal problems and did not call for the support of ANC structures.

The league accused Sello Moloto of having an anti-Zuma "political agenda".

In October 2007, when Sello Moloto took the podium at Norman Mashabane's funeral, he was heckled, reportedly by a group of ANC Youth League members.

However, Zuma ousted Mbeki from the presidency, and Sello Moloto himself failed to gain election to the National Executive Committee.

ANC Youth League Provincial Secretary Julius Malema said that if Sello Moloto did not resign of his own accord, "we will get the branches to take him out".

However, at the conference, Mathale beat Sello Moloto comfortably, receiving 587 votes to Sello Moloto's 357.

On 3 March 2009, the ANC announced that Sello Moloto had resigned from the premiership and provincial legislature.

Newspapers immediately reported that Sello Moloto had agreed to stand as COPE's candidate for Premier in the 2009 general election.

Sello Moloto's COPE deputy, Solly Mkhatshwa, succeeded him as the party's acting Provincial Chairperson.

Sello Moloto presented his credentials as ambassador in Maputo in September 2011.

Sello Moloto later served as Ambassador to Finland, High Commissioner to Lesotho, and, most recently, Ambassador to Switzerland.

Sello Moloto was married to Ramokone Moloto, who was a teacher by profession; they had three daughters.

Sello Moloto was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2006 and died on 24 July 2009.