Sfiso Norbert Buthelezi (born 1961) is a South African politician and member of 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 ...

. He is a member of the country's ruling party, 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 ...

Early life

Buthelezi was born in Mahlabathini,

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, in 1961. In 1981, at the age of 20, Buthelezi joined

uMkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

, the former paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. He was arrested in 1983 and imprisoned at

Robben Island prison Robben Island Prison is an inactive prison on Robben Island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometers (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned ...

for eight years until his release in 1991.

Career

From 1994 to 1999, Buthelezi served as an economic advisor to

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

, who at that time was the member of the Executive Council for economic development in

. He was also an adviser to

Mathews Phosa Nakedi Mathews Phosa (born 1 September 1952) is a South African Lawyer, attorney and politician and was also an anti-apartheid activist. He is a former premier of Mpumalanga as well as a member of the National Executive Committee (African Nationa ...

during his premiership in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

. In 1999, he became the Chief Operating Officer of Makana Investment Corporation. That same year, then president

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

appointed him as the founding chairperson of the National Gambling Board. In 2005, Minister of Transport

Jeff Radebe Jeffrey Thamsanqa Radebe (born 18 February 1953) is a South African politician who was last appointed as Minister of Energy by Cyril Ramaphosa on 26 February 2018. He served in the government of South Africa as Minister in the Presidency from 20 ...

appointed Buthelezi to the board of the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC), later renamed the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), with Buthelezi serving as the first chairperson of PRASA from 2009 to 2014. Buthelezi was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Finance in April 2017, following a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

by President Jacob Zuma, removing

Pravin Gordhan Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan (12 April 1949 – 13 September 2024) was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist who held various ministerial posts in the Cabinet of South Africa. He served as Minister of Finance from 2009 until 2014, ...

as Minister of Finance and

Mcebisi Jonas Mcebisi Hubert Jonas (born 1960) is a South African politician and businessman who was the Deputy Minister of Finance of South Africa between May 2014 and March 2017. He is best known as a state capture whistleblower. In 2016, he publicly alle ...

as Deputy Minister of Finance. After Zuma resigned as President on 14 February 2018, his successor

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

reshuffled his cabinet, moving Buthelezi to the position of Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

References

External links

Sfiso Norbert Buthelezi
– People's Assembly {{DEFAULTSORT:Buthelezi, Sfiso 1961 births Living people People from Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality Zulu people African National Congress politicians 20th-century South African economists University of Cape Town alumni Inmates of Robben Island Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2019–2024 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2014–2019

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links