18 Facts About Sibongile Besani

Sibongile Besani has been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee since December 2017.

Sibongile Besani resigned from his seat when he was appointed as head of the ANC presidency, a full-time position based at Luthuli House in the office of ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Sibongile Besani was the interim coordinator of the ANC Youth League between July 2019 and April 2021.

Sibongile Besani held that office between July 2008 and June 2012 during the chairmanship of Ace Magashule.

Sibongile Besani was born on 11 July 1970 in Vredefort in the former Orange Free State.

Sibongile Besani served under Ace Magashule, the third-term Provincial Chairperson, and deputised Charlotte Lobe.

At the provincial party's next elective conference, held in Parys on 24 July 2008, Sibongile Besani was permanently elected, unopposed, to the secretariat.

In early 2012, as the next provincial elective conference approached, Sibongile Besani was touted as a possible candidate to challenge Magashule for the party chairmanship.

Sibongile Besani became associated with the so-called Regime Change Group in the Free State, which included outgoing Provincial Treasurer Mxolisi Dukwana, among others.

Shortly before the provincial conference in June 2012, there were rumours that Sibongile Besani had met with Magashule's camp and had subsequently switched sides, but he did not do so: with Dukwana and other Magashule opponents, he ultimately boycotted the conference, citing unaddressed electoral irregularities.

In December 2017, Sibongile Besani attended the ANC's 54th National Conference at Nasrec, where he was elected to a five-year term on the party's National Executive Committee.

Sibongile Besani served in the National Assembly for less than two months.

Sibongile Besani's role involved supporting the party-political activities of ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy, David Mabuza, as well as coordinating between the ANC presidency and the Presidency of South Africa.

Sibongile Besani succeeded Zizi Kodwa, who had been appointed as a deputy minister after the general election.

On 6 February 2020, Sibongile Besani announced that he had tendered his resignation from the league task team.

Sibongile Besani said that the task team's work had been obstructed by the COVID-19 pandemic but that the league would hold elections no later than 31 March 2021.

At the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022, Sibongile Besani was re-elected to the NEC with 1,546 votes across roughly 4,000 ballots, making him the 20th-most popular member of the new committee.

Sibongile Besani said that he had not been questioned by the police and had no knowledge of the alleged crimes, which were alleged to have taken place before he joined the company.