1. Sihle Zikalala was born on 6 August 1973 and is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023, representing the African National Congress.
36 Facts About Sihle Zikalala
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Sihle Zikalala was Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from March 2023 to June 2024.
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Sihle Zikalala served as the 8th Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 2019 until his resignation in 2022 and as the Provincial Chairperson of the African National Congress from 2015 to 2022.
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Sihle Zikalala has held various leadership positions in the ANC.
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Sihle Zikalala was born on 6 August 1973 in the town of Ndwedwe in Natal.
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Sihle Zikalala holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Science.
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Sihle Zikalala joined the African National Congress in 1990 and became a full-time organiser for the party in Ndwedwe between 1993 and 1994.
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Sihle Zikalala has held many leadership positions in the African National Congress.
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Sihle Zikalala was a member of the party's Million Meyiwa Branch and served as ANC Zonal Chairperson from 1995 to 1996, before his election to the ANCYL North Durban Regional Executive Committee later on in 1996.
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Sihle Zikalala soon became Regional Chairperson in 1997, a post he held until his election as ANCYL Provincial Secretary in 2000.
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Sihle Zikalala served as a councillor in the Ilembe District Municipality from 1996 to 2000.
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Sihle Zikalala was elected Secretary-General of the African National Congress Youth League in 2004.
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Sihle Zikalala was elected ANC Provincial Chairperson on 8 November 2015 after he defeated incumbent Senzo Mchunu by a margin of 105 votes.
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Sihle Zikalala received 780 votes out of a total of 1,459 votes.
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Sihle Zikalala was sworn in as a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature on 26 November 2015 and consequently filled the vacancy created by the resignation of Super Zuma.
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Sihle Zikalala assumed office on 7 June 2016 and succeeded Michael Mabuyakhulu.
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Sihle Zikalala was appointed as Leader of Government Business in the legislature.
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Sihle Zikalala was re-elected unopposed for a second term as Provincial Chairperson of the party in July 2018.
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Sihle Zikalala was elected to the office on 22 May 2019, and officially assumed the post on 27 May 2019.
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On 8 July 2021, Sihle Zikalala admitted that the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma would hurt the ANC's electoral chances in the November 2021 municipal elections.
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Sihle Zikalala commended the former president for handing himself over and said that he has never betrayed Zuma.
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Sihle Zikalala suggested that president Cyril Ramaphosa should consider granting Zuma a Presidential Pardon.
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Sihle Zikalala called on Zuma supporters to refrain from violence as pro-Zuma protests turned violent.
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Sihle Zikalala said that it was tantamount to economic sabotage.
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Sihle Zikalala said that the police had confiscated an estimated R1-billion worth of counterfeit goods over the past year.
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Sihle Zikalala called on the freight and trucking industry to prioritise employing South African truck drivers instead of hiring foreign nationals to avoid conflict.
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In March 2022, Sihle Zikalala called for a review of South Africa's constitutional democracy and advocated for a move towards a parliamentary democracy.
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Sihle Zikalala's call was described as a "dangerous, populist call steeped in political expediency".
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Sihle Zikalala vowed that it would never happen again - and that the tanker would be positioned at the local community hall for residents to retrieve water during the crisis.
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On 23 July 2022, Sihle Zikalala was defeated in the election for ANC provincial chairperson by MPL Siboniso Duma.
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Sihle Zikalala received only 665 votes to Duma's 930 votes.
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Sihle Zikalala had told the ANC provincial leadership of his decision to step down, which they accepted.
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On 11 August 2022, Dube-Ncube announced that Sihle Zikalala had been appointed as the Member of the Executive Council for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
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On 21 December 2022, it was revealed that Sihle Zikalala had received the most votes from party delegates to the National Executive Committee, and had thus secured a seat on the NEC as an additional member.
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On 30 January 2023, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal announced that Sihle Zikalala would be deployed to the National Assembly amid talks of a cabinet reshuffle by president Cyril Ramaphosa after his re-election at the party's National Conference in December 2022.
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Sihle Zikalala resigned from the provincial legislature the following day.