Fikile Mbalula

Fikile April Mbalula (born 8 April 1971) is a South African politician and current secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC) since December 2022. He was a cabinet minister between 2010 and 2023, most proximately as Minister of Transport from 2019 to 2023. Mbalula rose to national political prominence as the President of the ANC Youth League between 2004 and 2008. During this period, he became an outspoken supporter of Jacob Zuma, whom he supported at the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference. At the same conference, he was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee for the first time and became the party's head of elections and organisation, in which capacity he coordinated its campaign in the 2009 general election. He continued to play a central role in the ANC's subsequent election campaigns. After Mbalula joined the National Assembly in May 2009, he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Police by Zuma, who was newly elected as President of South Africa. He went on to serve in Zuma's cabinet as Minister of Sport and Recreation from 2010 to 2017 and as Minister of Police from 2017 to 2018. He maintained a prominent public profile in both positions, even as his standing in the ANC suffered due to his falling out with Zuma and his unsuccessful bid to be elected as ANC Secretary-General in 2012. Although he was initially excluded from the cabinet of Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mbalula returned as Minister of Transport from May 2019 to March 2023. He left government in order to take up his full-time position as ANC Secretary-General, which he won at the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022.