Weziwe Tikana-Gxotiwe (born 3 November 1967) is a South African politician, educator and trade unionist who has been a

Member of the National Assembly of South Africa Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

since 2024, representing the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

. Prior to her election to parliament, she served in the

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Eastern Cape. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading pa ...

Early life and education

Tikana-Gxotiwe was born in Cala in the former

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

(now the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

). She matriculated from Sewushe Commercial College. She completed a teachers' course at Arthur Tsengiwe College of Education. Tikana-Gxotiwe holds a primary teachers' diploma from Belgravia Institute and a diploma in local government Management from the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

. Tikana-Gxotiwe earned a diploma in labour law from Global Business Solution.

Career

Tikana-Gxotiwe worked as an educator and training officer at the Department of Education and the Xhalanga Entrepreneurial Development Centre. She was also an adult basic education supervisor at the Cala Guidance Centre. She was also a senior administration officer at the Emalahleni Local Municipality and was employed as a director of municipal public participation at the Local Government and Traditional Affairs Department. Tikana-Gxotiwe also served on the Vukani Community Radio Station board.

Politics

Tikana-Gxotiwe is a member of the

and the party's women's league and serves on both organisations' provincial executive committees. Tikana-Gxotiwe also served on the structures of the South African Democratic Teachers Union and the Xhalanga Youth Congress. Tikana-Gxotiwe served on the regional executive committee of the ANC's women's league in the former Engcobo Region and was a member of the inter-regional structure of the former

Ngcobo Ngcobo, alternatively rendered Engcobo, is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Ngcobo is the main town of the Engcobo Local Municipality, which falls within the Chris Hani District Municipality of the Eastern Cape. It is situa ...

, Queenstown and mid-Karoo region. She also served as treasurer of the ANC's Chris Hani region. Tikana-Gxotiwe is a former mayor of Sakhisizwe Local Municipality in the

Chris Hani District Municipality The Chris Hani District Municipality () is a landlocked district municipality situated in the centre of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and is made up of eight local municipalities. Most of the communities are in rural areas. The land ...

and former South African Democratic Teachers Union deputy chair. She was a member of the SALGA management committee and served as the chairperson of the Governance Sub-Committee of the organisation.

Provincial government

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Tikana-Gxotiwe was elected as a member of the

. She was then appointed as the

Member of the Executive Council In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...

(MEC) for Transport, Safety and Liaison by premier Phumulo Masualle. Tikana-Gxotiwe was re-elected to another term in the legislature in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. She remained in her position as MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison following Oscar Mabuyane's election as premier, meaning that she was the only member of Masualle's executive to be appointed to Mabuyane's executive. In June 2020, Tikana-Gxotiwe lost a court case in which she wanted the

United Democratic Movement The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is a centre-left, social-democratic, South African political party, formed by a prominent former National Party leader, Roelf Meyer (who has since resigned from the UDM), a former African National Congre ...

(UDM) leader,

Bantu Holomisa Bantubonke Harrington Holomisa (born 25 July 1955) is a South African politician. He is a member of parliament for and president of the United Democratic Movement. and the current Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. Holomisa was ...

to retract a tweet raising concerns over a guest house, which is in her daughter's name, that the provincial government decided to use a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

isolation facility. Judge

Gerald Bloem Gerald is a masculine given name derived from the Germanic languages prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Gerald is a Norman French variant of the Germanic name. An Old English equivalent name was Garweald, the likely original ...

found it likely that Tikana-Gxotiwe was the owner or held a benefit in the Mioca Lodge in Cala. In March 2021, acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka found that there was no improper conduct by Tikana-Gxotiwe in relation to the procurement of her daughter's lodge as a COVID-19 quarantine site. On 16 August 2022, Mabuyane reshuffled his executive council and removed Tikana-Gxotiwe as the MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison due to her support for

Babalo Madikizela Babalo Madikizela is a South African urban planner and politician who served as the Eastern Cape MEC for Public Works from May 2019 to July 2022 and as a Member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature from November 2018 to August 2022. Madiki ...

, his contender for provincial chairperson at the ANC's provincial elective conference in May 2022.

National parliament

Tikana-Gxotiwe was ranked number 71 on the ANC's national candidate list for the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. At the election, she won a seat in the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation sy ...

. She was sworn in as a Member of Parliament.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tikana-Gxotiwe, Weziwe Living people 1967 births Xhosa people People from the Eastern Cape African National Congress politicians Members of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature Women members of provincial legislatures of South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029