Baldwin Sipho "Ben" Ngubane (22 October 1941 – 12 July 2021) was a politician from South Africa. He held multiple positions in the post-apartheid government of the country. In particular, he was

Premier of KwaZulu-Natal The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal is the head of government of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The current Premier of KwaZulu-Natal i''s'' Nomusa Dube-Ncube, a member of the African National Congress. She is the first elected woman to assu ...

from 1997 to 1999 and Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology from 1994 until 31 August 1996 and from February 1999 until April 2004.

Early life and career

Baldwin Sipho "Ben" Ngubane was born in 1941 at Inchanga Roman Catholic Mission in Camperdown outside Pietermaritzburg in what later became KwaZulu-Natal province. After attending St Francis High School, a

mission school The Mission School (sometimes called "New Folk" or "Urban Rustic") is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District, San Francisco, California. History and characteristics This movement is generally considered to have ...

in the

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

suburb of Marianhill, he went to the Durban Medical School at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

in Durban, where he obtained an

MBChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

in 1971. He subsequently obtained diplomas in Tropical Medicine in 1982 and Public Health in 1983 from the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. He furthermore received a master's degree of Family Medicine (M Prax Med) from Natal Medical School (now the Nelson Mandela Medical School) in 1986 and a

postgraduate diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

in Economics from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 2003.Curriculum Vitae of Baldwin Sipho "Ben" Ngubane
- website Parliamentary Monitoring Group While at the University of Natal, Ngubane was engaged in student politics, including through the National Union of South African Students, and he joined Inkatha in 1976. In 1991 he was appointed Minister of Health in the government of the

KwaZulu KwaZulu was a semi-independent bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980. It was led until its abolition in 1994 by Chief Mangosuth ...

homeland, a post he held until 1994. In 1992 Ngubane was part of Inkatha's delegation to

CODESA The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...

; he served on a working group which dealt with constitutional principles and constitution-making. In 1993 he was involved in negotiations with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC) on behalf of Inkatha.

Career in government

He was the first Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in the post-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

period from 1994 to 1996 in Nelson Mandela's

Government of National Unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

. Between 1997 and 1999, he was

; after that, he returned to the Arts and Culture portfolio until 2004. In 2004 he was appointed Ambassador to Japan, until 2008. He was viewed as having fallen out with Inkatha's Mangosuthu Buthelezi after he left the Premier's office, and in 2006 he defected to the ANC during a

floor-crossing In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...

period. He later served as chairperson of the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

(SABC) board and as chairperson of the

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...

board between 2015 and 2017. In 2020, Ngubane was twice called to testify before

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State, better known as the Zondo Commission or State Capture Commission, is a public inquiry established in Janu ...

in his capacities as, first, former SABC board chairperson, then, secondly, as the chairman of Eskom. Ngubane died in

Richards Bay Richards Bay ( af, Richardsbaai) is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, which makes it one of the country's largest harbours. Richards Bay also has the deepest natural h ...

on 12 July 2021 at the age of 79 from COVID-19 complications.

Honours

He received an honorary LLD degree from the

in 1995. In 2010, Ngubane was awarded an honorary PhD degree from the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

for his "contribution towards positioning South Africa as a major and an influential player in the development of arts, culture, science and technology internationally". Later that year he also received the Grand Cordon of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun for his contributions "to the enhancement of the relationship and the cooperation in science and technology between Japan and South Africa". He furthermore received an honorary PhD degree from

University of Zululand The University of Zululand or UniZulu is the only comprehensive tertiary educational institution north of the Tugela River in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its new status is in accordance with South Africa's National Plan for Higher Education ...

, an honorary PhD degree from

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) is a university in Pretoria North, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Its current incarnation was formed on 1 January 2015. Previously it was known as ''Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA) ...

, and an honorary DHL degree from

International Christian University is a non-denominational private university located in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, commonly known as ICU. With the efforts of Prince Takamatsu, General Douglas MacArthur, and BOJ President Hisato Ichimada, ICU was established in 1949 as the first l ...

(

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Personal life

Ngubane was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngubane, Ben 1941 births 2021 deaths People from Mkhambathini Local Municipality Zulu people Inkatha Freedom Party politicians Arts and culture ministers of South Africa Ambassadors of South Africa to Japan University of Natal alumni Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa