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David Mahlobo
Mbangiseni David Mahlobo (born 14 January 1972) is a South African politician who has served as the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation since August 2021. He has been responsible for the water and sanitation portfolio since May 2019, initially as Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation. A member of the National Assembly since May 2014, he was formerly the Minister of State Security from May 2014 to October 2017 and the Minister of Energy from October 2017 to February 2018.
Although he was born in Mpumalanga, Mahlobo was primarily educated in KwaZulu-Natal, where he rose to political prominence as a student activist in the early post-apartheid period. Between 2000 and 2014, he worked in the civil service; a scientist by training, he began his career in the water quality unit of the Mpumalanga provincial government before a stint in the national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and a stint, between 2009 and 2014, as head of department of the Mpumalanga Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In the latter capacity, he became reputed as an ally of Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, whom some credited for subsequent Mahlobo's political rise.
After his election to the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2012, Mahlobo was appointed to President Jacob Zuma's second cabinet. Infamous for his personal intimacy with Zuma, Mahlobo was a controversial member of the cabinet; the Zondo Commission later implicated him in the capture of the State Security Agency as State Security Minister, and he was known as Energy Minister for his support for the proposed Russian nuclear deal.
After Zuma was deposed in February 2018, Mahlobo was sacked from the cabinet by newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa, but he returned to the national executive as a deputy minister after the 2019 general election. He was re-elected to his third consecutive term in the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2022, and he was elected to a five-year term in the ANC National Working Committee in January 2023.
Mahlobo was born on 14 January 1972 on Bergplaas farm in KwaNdalaza near Piet Retief in the former Eastern Transvaal, now part of Mpumalanga Province. His father is Chief Mandlenkosi Mahlobo, a KwaNdwalaza traditional leader with land in the region straddling the Mpumalanga–KwaZulu-Natal border, who was subject to persecution and forced removal by the apartheid government. Between 1981 and 1983, Mahlobo and his siblings left their schooling and parents to live with relatives in exile in Swaziland. Upon his return to South Africa, he attended Bambanani High School in Belgrade, KwaZulu-Natal, matriculating in 1991.
Mahlobo went on to the University of Zululand, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and biochemistry in 1998 and an Honours in biochemistry in 1999. Active in student politics since high school, he served two terms as secretary of the university's students' representative council, in which capacity he was particularly involved in establishing the university's branch of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union. He was provincial chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African Union of Student Representative Councils and the deputy provincial chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African Students Congress.
At the same time, he was active in the African National Congress (ANC) and ANC Youth League; according to his official profile, he organised for the ANC in his rural hometown region, around Piet Retief and Pongola, and on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. He also taught physical science and biology to high school students at his own high school, Bambanani, and later at the Lalela Finishing School in Pongola.
In 2000, Mahlobo joined the civil service as a water scientist in the water quality division of the Mpumalanga Government's Department of Water and Forestry, focusing on the Olifants River catchment area. From 2002 to 2006, he worked in the transformation unit of the national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, first as an assistant director in the unit, then as deputy director and director. Thereafter, between 2009 and 2014, he returned to the Mpumalanga Government as Head of Department in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In this capacity, he became known for acting as a "fixer" for the Premier of Mpumalanga, David Mabuza. Critics pointed to the fact that Mahlobo had an official security detail as evidence of his involvement in political intrigue. Opposition politician Collen Sedibe, who worked in Mahlobo's department, later alleged that he had used his position to organize patronage for Mabuza among the province's municipal managers.
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David Mahlobo
Mbangiseni David Mahlobo (born 14 January 1972) is a South African politician who has served as the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation since August 2021. He has been responsible for the water and sanitation portfolio since May 2019, initially as Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation. A member of the National Assembly since May 2014, he was formerly the Minister of State Security from May 2014 to October 2017 and the Minister of Energy from October 2017 to February 2018.
Although he was born in Mpumalanga, Mahlobo was primarily educated in KwaZulu-Natal, where he rose to political prominence as a student activist in the early post-apartheid period. Between 2000 and 2014, he worked in the civil service; a scientist by training, he began his career in the water quality unit of the Mpumalanga provincial government before a stint in the national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and a stint, between 2009 and 2014, as head of department of the Mpumalanga Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In the latter capacity, he became reputed as an ally of Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, whom some credited for subsequent Mahlobo's political rise.
After his election to the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2012, Mahlobo was appointed to President Jacob Zuma's second cabinet. Infamous for his personal intimacy with Zuma, Mahlobo was a controversial member of the cabinet; the Zondo Commission later implicated him in the capture of the State Security Agency as State Security Minister, and he was known as Energy Minister for his support for the proposed Russian nuclear deal.
After Zuma was deposed in February 2018, Mahlobo was sacked from the cabinet by newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa, but he returned to the national executive as a deputy minister after the 2019 general election. He was re-elected to his third consecutive term in the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2022, and he was elected to a five-year term in the ANC National Working Committee in January 2023.
Mahlobo was born on 14 January 1972 on Bergplaas farm in KwaNdalaza near Piet Retief in the former Eastern Transvaal, now part of Mpumalanga Province. His father is Chief Mandlenkosi Mahlobo, a KwaNdwalaza traditional leader with land in the region straddling the Mpumalanga–KwaZulu-Natal border, who was subject to persecution and forced removal by the apartheid government. Between 1981 and 1983, Mahlobo and his siblings left their schooling and parents to live with relatives in exile in Swaziland. Upon his return to South Africa, he attended Bambanani High School in Belgrade, KwaZulu-Natal, matriculating in 1991.
Mahlobo went on to the University of Zululand, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and biochemistry in 1998 and an Honours in biochemistry in 1999. Active in student politics since high school, he served two terms as secretary of the university's students' representative council, in which capacity he was particularly involved in establishing the university's branch of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union. He was provincial chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African Union of Student Representative Councils and the deputy provincial chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African Students Congress.
At the same time, he was active in the African National Congress (ANC) and ANC Youth League; according to his official profile, he organised for the ANC in his rural hometown region, around Piet Retief and Pongola, and on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. He also taught physical science and biology to high school students at his own high school, Bambanani, and later at the Lalela Finishing School in Pongola.
In 2000, Mahlobo joined the civil service as a water scientist in the water quality division of the Mpumalanga Government's Department of Water and Forestry, focusing on the Olifants River catchment area. From 2002 to 2006, he worked in the transformation unit of the national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, first as an assistant director in the unit, then as deputy director and director. Thereafter, between 2009 and 2014, he returned to the Mpumalanga Government as Head of Department in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In this capacity, he became known for acting as a "fixer" for the Premier of Mpumalanga, David Mabuza. Critics pointed to the fact that Mahlobo had an official security detail as evidence of his involvement in political intrigue. Opposition politician Collen Sedibe, who worked in Mahlobo's department, later alleged that he had used his position to organize patronage for Mabuza among the province's municipal managers.