Mthawelanga Webster Mfebe (born 14 July 1959) is a South African businessman, politician, and former

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. He has been the chief executive officer of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors since 2013. Before entering business full-time, Mfebe represented 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 ...

(ANC) in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 1994 to 1996 and then in the

Free State Provincial Legislature The Free State Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Free State. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the Premier of the Free State, who in turn selects the members of the Executive ...

from 1996 to 2004. He was the Free State's

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 Sports, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology from 1997 to 2004.

Early life and career

Born on 14 July 1959, Mfebe rose to political prominence during

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

through the

trade union movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

and

Mass Democratic Movement The United Democratic Front (UDF) was a South African popular front that existed from 1983 to 1991. The UDF comprised more than 400 public organizations including trade unions, students' unions, women's and parachurch organizations. The UDF ...

Legislative career

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Mfebe was elected to an ANC seat in the National Assembly. He remained in the seat until 1996, when he resigned in order to join the Free State Provincial Legislature; he was sworn in on 18 December. He was also appointed to Premier

Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri Ivy Florence Matsepe-Casaburri (18 September 1937 – 6 April 2009) was a South African politician. She was the 2nd premier of the Free State and South Africa's Minister of Communications (South Africa), Minister of Communications from 1999 ...

's Executive Council as MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. During his first year in the portfolio, his department held the inaugural Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe), an arts festival that thereafter became an annual event. In the 1999 general election, Mfebe was elected to a full term in the provincial legislature, and newly elected Premier

Winkie Direko Isabella Winkie Direko (27 November 192917 February 2012) was a South African politician born in the Free State province of South Africa. She was a member of the African National Congress and served as Premier of the Free State from 1999 to 200 ...

retained him in his position as MEC. He left the provincial government after the next general election in 2004.

Later career

From 2005 to 2009, Mfebe worked at the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

, where, among other positions, he was head of sport. From 2009 to 2012, he was executive director for stakeholder relations at Basil Read, a construction company. He also had his own consulting company, Phendula Consulting, as well as non-executive directorships in other companies. On 1 January 2013, he took office as chief executive officer of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC; since renamed the South African Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors), a not-for-profit employers' organisation in the

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

sector. In this capacity, Mfebe has occasionally attracted media attention as a critic of government policies, for example through a 2019 open letter he wrote to President

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 ...

about the power of extortion rackets targeting the construction sector.

References

Living people 1959 births African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African businesspeople 21st-century South African politicians South African trade unionists Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature {{DEFAULTSORT:Mfebe, Webster