Thembeka Vuyisile Buyisile Mchunu (born 31 January 1968) is a South African politician from

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 ...

serving as 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 2019. A member of 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 ...

, she served as the Executive Mayor of the Uthungulu District Municipality from 2011 to 2016. She is married to

Senzo Mchunu Edward Senzo Mchunu (born 21 April 1958) is a South African politician currently serving as Minister of Police since 30 June 2024. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he has been a cabinet minister since May 2019. He was formerly th ...

, the current Minister of Police and the former

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 is Thami Ntuli, a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party. He took office on 18 June 2024. Functions In terms ...

Early life and education

Mchunu was born on 31 January 1968, in

Ixopo Ixopo, also known as Stuartstown, is a town situated on a tributary of the uMkhomazi River along the R56 highway in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Background The town was laid out in 1878 and named after M Stuart, Resident Magistr ...

in South Africa's former

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

, to Thenjiwe and Joshua. She is the older sister of Thabo Mofokeng, who formerly served as the spokesperson of the

eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality, created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 Districts of South Africa, di ...

. Her parents divorced when she was five. She and Thabo then went to live with her paternal grandmother. She attended Carisbrooke Primary School and later Laduma High School. When she was in Grade 8, Mchunu relocated to

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

to live with her mother, who was a teacher. She matriculated from St Augustine's in 1985. Mchunu then studied to become a teacher at the Umbumbulu College of Education. She earned a diploma in education and began her teaching career in Zululand in 1990.

Career

Mchunu taught at multiple schools in Zululand between 1990 and 2006, when she was elected as an

councillor in the Uthungulu District Municipality. She served as a regional secretary for the

African National Congress Women's League The African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) is an auxiliary women's political organization of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. This organization has its precedent in the Bantu Women's League, and it oscillated from ...

. In 2011, she was elected mayor of the district municipality. During her mayoralty, the district received its first clean audit from the

Auditor-General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Fre ...

for the 2012/2013 financial year. Following her husband Senzo's election as premier and she becoming First Lady of KwaZulu-Natal in 2013, opposition parties called on her to step down as mayor. She rejected their calls, saying in a 2014 interview with the ''Zululand Observer'': "I think opposition parties are just playing politics." Following mounting pressure from the ANC, Mchunu's husband, Senzo, resigned as premier in May 2016, causing her to lose the title of First Lady. Prior to the local elections in August 2016, the ANC nominated Nonhle Mkhulisi as their mayoral candidate for the district. The district was also renamed to the King Cetshwayo District Municipality. Mchunu had started the process to change the district's name after she was elected as mayor in 2011.

Parliamentary career

Mchunu was elected to the National Assembly in the 2019 general elections from the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal list. She sits on the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. Her husband currently serves as Minister of Water and Sanitation.

Candidacy for Regional Chairperson

In January 2022, Mchunu was announced as a candidate for regional chairperson of the ANC's Musa Dladla (King Cetshwayo District) region. Mchunu led a slate that included Tholi Gwala as her deputy with former district mayor Lindo Phungula as regional treasurer. She lost to Musa Cebekhulu at the regional conference in May 2022.

ANC Women's League presidential bid

Mchunu stood for the position of president of the

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 Bathabile Dlamini (born 10 September 1962) is a South African politician who was the President of the African National Congress (ANC) ANC Women's League, Women's League from 2015 to 2022. She was previously the Minister of Women, Youth and Person ...

. At the conference, it was revealed that 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. Mchunu's presidential bid was ultimately unsuccessful as Tolashe was announced as the league's new president on 23 July 2023, having received 1,729 votes compared to Mchunu's 1,038 votes and Dlamini's 170 votes.

Personal life

Mchunu met

when she was 16 years old. They married in July 1990. They had a son but he died. She had four more children with Senzo, two boys and two girls. They also have grandchildren.

References

External links

Profile
at

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature. It is located in Cape Town; the country's legislative capital city, capital. Under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameralism, bicameral Parliamen ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mchunu, Thembeka Living people 1968 births Politicians from KwaZulu-Natal African National Congress politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029 Mayors of places in South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2019–2024