Thembeka Vuyisile Buyisile Mchunu was born on 31 January 1968 and is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal serving as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2019.
17 Facts About Thembeka Mchunu
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Thembeka Mchunu is married to Senzo Mchunu, the current Minister of Water and Sanitation and the former premier of KwaZulu-Natal.
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Thembeka Mchunu is the older sister of Thabo Mofokeng, who formerly served as the spokesperson of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.
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Thembeka Mchunu attended Carisbrooke Primary School and later Laduma High School.
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When she was in Grade 8, Thembeka Mchunu relocated to Pietermaritzburg to live with her mother, who was a teacher.
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Thembeka Mchunu then studied to become a teacher at the Umbumbulu College of Education.
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Thembeka Mchunu earned a diploma in education and began her teaching career in Zululand in 1990.
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Thembeka Mchunu taught at multiple schools in Zululand between 1990 and 2006, when she was elected as an African National Congress councillor in the Uthungulu District Municipality.
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Thembeka Mchunu served as a regional secretary for the African National Congress Women's League.
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Thembeka Mchunu had started the process to change the district's name after she was elected as mayor in 2011.
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Thembeka Mchunu was elected to the National Assembly in the 2019 general elections from the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal list.
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Thembeka Mchunu sits on the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries.
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In January 2022, Thembeka Mchunu was announced as a candidate for regional chairperson of the ANC's Musa Dladla region.
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Thembeka Mchunu lost to Musa Cebekhulu at the regional conference in May 2022.
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Thembeka Mchunu stood for the position of president of the African National Congress Women's League at the league's national conference held in July 2023 against former league Secretary-General Sisisi Tolashe and the outgoing president of the Women's League, Bathabile Dlamini.
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At the conference, it was revealed that Thembeka Mchunu had received the second highest amount of branch nominations with 796 nominations, behind Tolashe who received the highest amount of branch nominations with 1,564 nominations.
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Thembeka Mchunu had four more children with Senzo, two boys and two girls.