Sipho Joseph Gcabashe is a South African politician and businessman who represented the African National Congress in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature until 2019, when he failed to gain re-election.
11 Facts About Sipho Gcabashe
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Sipho Gcabashe was Provincial Secretary of the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal branch from 1996 to 2005.
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In December 1996, Gcabashe was elected to succeed Senzo Mchunu as ANC Provincial Secretary in KwaZulu-Natal, with Bheki Cele as his deputy.
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That directive was apparently followed by Mchunu but ignored by Mchunu's former deputy, Sifiso Nkabinde, whom Sipho Gcabashe beat in a vote for the Provincial Secretary position.
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At the time, Sipho Gcabashe was reportedly close with Jacob Zuma, then the ANC's Provincial Chairperson.
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Sipho Gcabashe ultimately held the party office for three terms until May 2005, when Senzo Mchunu returned to the position.
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Sipho Gcabashe won election to his third term narrowly: at the ANC's provincial elective conference in 2002, he tied for the position with Nathi Mthethwa at 190 votes each, and when the vote was re-run he won by a margin of three votes, receiving 235 votes to Mthetha's 232.
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Sipho Gcabashe served in the national Parliament in the 1990s and served a long tenure in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature, where he held a seat by May 2004.
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Sipho Gcabashe was elected to his last term in the provincial legislature in the 2014 general election, ranked 28th on the ANC's provincial party list.
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Sipho Gcabashe stood for re-election in the next general election in 2019, but he was ranked 59th on the ANC's party list and did not secure a seat.
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Sipho Gcabashe was formerly married to ANC politician Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe; they divorced in 2012 after a period of separation.