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Max Sisulu

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Max Sisulu
Sisulu in 1985
4th Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa
In office
6 May 2009 – 21 May 2014
PresidentJacob Zuma
DeputyNomaindia Mfeketo
Preceded byGwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde
Succeeded byBaleka Mbete
Chief Whip of the Majority Party
In office
February 1997 – November 1998
Preceded byMakhenkesi Stofile
Succeeded byTony Yengeni
Member of the National Assembly
In office
6 May 2009 – 29 May 2014
In office
26 April 1994 – November 1998
Personal details
Born
Max Vuyisile Sisulu

(1945-08-23) 23 August 1945 (age 79)
Soweto, Transvaal
Union of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouse(s)
Mercy Vutela
​
​
(m. 1966; div. 1967)​

​
(m. 1986)​
Relations
Children5, including Shaka
Parents

Max Vuyisile Sisulu (born 23 August 1945) is a South African politician and businessman who was Speaker of the National Assembly from May 2009 to May 2014. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he was a member of the party's National Executive Committee from December 1994 to December 2017.

Born in Soweto, Sisulu is the son of anti-apartheid activists Albertina and Walter Sisulu. Between 1963 and 1990, at the height of apartheid, he lived outside of South Africa with the exiled ANC and its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. An economist by training, he was the ANC's head of economic planning from 1986 to 1990, and he remained influential in ANC economic policymaking in subsequent decades.

In April 1994, in South Africa's first democratic elections, Sisulu was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament. For much of the First Parliament, he was the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). Then, from February 1997 to November 1998, he served as Chief Whip of the Majority Party. However, he resigned from his seat in November 1998 to work in business, first at Denel and later at Sasol.

He did not return to Parliament until the April 2009 general election, pursuant to which he was elected as the Speaker. He was the first man to serve as Speaker since the end of apartheid, and the first black man ever to serve as Speaker in the South African Parliament. He served in the office throughout the Fourth Parliament but was replaced by Baleka Mbete after the May 2014 general election.

Early life

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Sisulu was born on 23 August 1945 in Soweto.[1] He was the eldest of five children born to Albertina and Walter Sisulu, who were prominent anti-apartheid activists in the African National Congress;[1] his younger siblings were Mlungisi, Zwelakhe, Lindiwe, and Nonkululeko.[2] In 1963, when he was aged 19, he and his mother were arrested and detained after his father went into hiding. Shortly after his release, he left South Africa for exile;[1] his father, meanwhile, was apprehended by police later that year and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Exile and early career

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Leaving South Africa via Gaborone, Botswana, Sisulu travelled to Tanzania, where he joined Umkhonto we Sizwe.[1] Over the next decade, he spent stints in various regions of Africa and Europe.[1] Among other things, he completed a master's degree in political economy from the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow in 1969, a senior military training course in Skhodnya, Soviet Union in 1972, and a one year-research fellowship at the University of Amsterdam in 1985.[3] He also spent a period as the ANC's representative in Budapest.[4] From 1986 to 1990, he was stationed at the ANC's headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was head of the ANC's Department of Economic Planning.[3]

In 1990, Sisulu returned to South Africa amid the negotiations to end apartheid.[5] The following year, he became the founding director of the Director of the National Institute of Economic Policies, an ANC think-tank based in Johannesburg.[3][1] In addition, in 1993, he completed Master of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.[3]

First Parliament: 1994–1998

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In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Sisulu was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament. He was also appointed as the inaugural chairperson of the portfolio committee that was tasked with oversight of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), the ANC's flagship economic and social policy;[3] Sisulu had helped draft the policy itself.[6] During the same period, Sisulu rose in the ANC: he was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) for the first time at the party's congress in 1994,[7] and in 1997 he was elected both to the NEC and to the smaller National Working Committee (NWC) at the next congress in 1997.[8][9]

In February 1997, he was appointed as the second Chief Whip of the Majority Party, succeeding Arnold Stofile.[3][10] Upon taking office, he announced a plan to restore and upgrade the status of Parliament's RDP committee.[6] He also introduced academic training programmes for Members of Parliament and parliamentary staff.[11] However, his tenure as whip was brief: he resigned from Parliament in November 1998 to enter the corporate world.[12]

Corporate hiatus: 1998–2009

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He was deputy chief executive officer of Denel from 1998 to 2001 and then group general manager of Sasol from 2003 to 2006.[3][13] Thereafter he held various directorships,[3] including at African Rainbow Minerals.[14]

During this period, Sisulu remained active in the ANC; he was re-elected to the NEC, and re-appointed to the NWC, both in December 2002[15][16] and then in December 2007.[17][18] He was particularly prominent as the chairperson of the NEC's Subcommittee on Economic Transformation,[19] and the Mail & Guardian said that he brought "serious business nous" and "much-needed technical expertise" to the NWC.[20]

Fourth Parliament: 2009–2014

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In the April 2009 general election, Sisulu returned to the National Assembly, ranked 39th on the ANC's party list.[21] When Parliament opened on 6 May, he was elected unopposed to replace Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde as the Speaker of the National Assembly, with Nomaindia Mfeketo as his deputy.[22] He was nominated to the position by Andrew Mlangeni.[23] The first man to hold the office since 1994, he used his acceptance speech to urge members to "resist the urge" to call him Madam Speaker.[22] He served as Speaker throughout the Fourth Parliament, during which time he was "widely respected" for his fairness and levity.[11][24][25] He also oversaw the establishment of the parliamentary budget office.[26]

Simultaneously, Sisulu continued to serve as chairperson of the ANC NEC's Subcommittee on Economic Transformation until after the party's 53rd National Conference in December 2012,[27] when Enoch Godongwana was elected to take over the position.[28] The same conference re-elected Sisulu to his fifth term on the NEC,[29] though he did not return to the NWC.[30]

Nkandlagate

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The end of Sisulu's term as Speaker was partly consumed by the so-called Nkandlagate scandal, which concerned state-funded upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead. In March 2014, shortly before the end of the parliamentary term, the Public Protector released a report which concluded that Zuma had benefitted unduly from the upgrades and should be required to repay the state. Opposition parties said that Sisulu was responsive to their requests for the Public Protector's report to be tabled in the National Assembly,[31] and Sisulu ultimately announced that he would establish an ad hoc parliamentary committee to consider the report.[32][33] Opposition politician Lindiwe Mazibuko welcomed his decision as a "bold move" and "a victory for Parliament, the constitution and accountability".[33]

There were later reports – disputed by the ANC – that Sisulu had been rebuked by the party for establishing the committee.[34] Although the ad hoc committee initially intended to complete its work before the end of the parliamentary term,[33] it did not do so.[35]

Departure

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In the May 2014 general election, Sisulu was ranked 14th on the ANC's party list,[36] but the ANC announced that Baleka Mbete would replace him as Speaker.[37] Steven Friedman and others suggested that the move indicated that the ANC wanted to exert stricter partisan control of the Speaker's office and of Parliament.[24][25] Sisulu was sworn in as an ordinary Member of Parliament on 21 May, but he resigned from his seat eight days later when he failed to gain appointment to Zuma's cabinet.[38][39] Observers were surprised by his exclusion,[40] but the ANC strenuously denied rumours that he was being punished for having instigated the Nkandla investigation.[37][25]

Retirement

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After leaving Parliament, Sisulu remained active in the ANC. In 2016, he emerged as a critic of President Zuma, first expressing public dissatisfaction in April in the aftermath of the Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker judgment.[41] Later that year he called – both in public and during an ANC NEC meeting – for Zuma's resignation.[42] He also said publicly that Zuma's failure to support Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was "bloody foolish",[43] and he attended a civil society march in support of Gordhan in Pretoria.[44] Sisulu served the remainder of his five-year term as a member of the NEC, but he was not re-elected at the next national conference in December 2017.[45]

On 31 January 2018, he was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Harmony Gold.[46]

Personal life

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In 1966, Sisulu married Mercy Vutela, the daughter of activist Greta Ncapayi; she had been his high school sweetheart and reunited with him in exile in Moscow.[2] Their son, Mlungisi, became a diplomat in the South African embassies to Khartoum and Prague; he died of cerebral malaria in London, England in January 2008, aged 40.[47][48] Sisulu's first marriage was shortlived.[2] His second child, Shaka, was born in 1979 to Makhosazana Msimang, Mendi Msimang's daughter,[2] and went on to become an activist and media personality.[49]

In September 1986, he married Elinor Sisulu, a writer whom he had met in Amsterdam in 1985.[2] She later published a biography of her parents-in-law.[50]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Plaatjies, Daniel (2021). "Max Sisulu". Servant Leader. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Sisulu, Elinor (15 September 2011). Walter & Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime. New Africa Books. ISBN 978-0-86486-639-4.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Max Vuyesile Sisulu". GCIS. Archived from the original on 13 December 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  4. ^ Kianja (29 November 2021). "Max Sisulu receives Hungarian Honour". The Diplomatic Society. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  5. ^ Wren, Christopher S. (13 June 1990). "Johannesburg Journal; An Exile Comes Home to Soweto's Sad Embrace". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b "RIP the RDP committee". The Mail & Guardian. 20 August 1999. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  7. ^ "49th National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected at Conference". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  8. ^ "51st National Conference: Report of the Secretary General". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  9. ^ "51st National Conference: Report of the Secretary General". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  10. ^ "'Pay as you go' for ANC MPs". The Mail & Guardian. 30 October 1997. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Will Max Sisulu call it quits?". News24. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  12. ^ Warby, Vivian (6 May 2009). "Sisulu elected as first male Speaker in Parliament". GCIS. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  13. ^ Seepe, Jimmy (19 October 2003). "Sisulu 'wanted shortcuts'". News24. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  14. ^ "Resignation of director". African Rainbow Minerals (ARM). 12 August 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  15. ^ "51st National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  16. ^ "52nd National Conference: Organisational Report". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  17. ^ "52nd National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  18. ^ "Organisational Report to the 53rd National Conference" (PDF). ANC. 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  19. ^ "ANC subcommittee chairs bode well for economic policy continuity". IOL. 19 January 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Who's who in the Zu(ma) NWC". The Mail & Guardian. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  21. ^ "New and old faces arrive at Parliament". South African Government News Agency. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  22. ^ a b "Sisulu accepts his job with humility". IOL. 6 May 2009. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  23. ^ "Sisulu elected National Assembly speaker". The Mail & Guardian. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Baleka Mbete sworn in as speaker of the House". The Mail & Guardian. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  25. ^ a b c "ANC exerts majority with Mbete's Parliament appointment". The Mail & Guardian. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Parliamentary fiscal office on track". The Mail & Guardian. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  27. ^ "The state of the ANC – Gwede Mantashe". Politicsweb. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  28. ^ "ANC NEC approves names for sub committees". Politicsweb. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  29. ^ "ANC National Executive Committee Members". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  30. ^ "Organisational Report to the 54th National Conference" (PDF). ANC. 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  31. ^ "Sisulu to table Nkandla report – FF Plus". News24. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  32. ^ "DA, FF+ say Sisulu to investigate Nkandla before elections – reports". The Mail & Guardian. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  33. ^ a b c "Parliament to establish ad hoc Nkandla committee". The Mail & Guardian. 9 April 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  34. ^ "Nkandla not why Max Sisulu resigned – ANC". News24. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  35. ^ Vecchiatto, Paul (28 April 2014). "Nkandla probe stalled". Business Day. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  36. ^ "Max Vuyisile Sisulu". People's Assembly. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  37. ^ a b "Mbete to replace Sisulu as National Assembly speaker". The Mail & Guardian. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  38. ^ "Sisulu 'throws in the towel' after rebuff at Parliament". Business Day. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  39. ^ "Former speaker Sisulu resigns from Parliament". The Mail & Guardian. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  40. ^ "Cabinet's biggest losers". News24. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  41. ^ Heard, Janet (1 April 2016). "Max Sisulu breaks silence on Nkandla: Parliament must get house in order". City Press. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  42. ^ "New blows to Zuma Inc from outside and inside the ANC". The Mail & Guardian. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  43. ^ "Bloody foolish to pursue Pravin Gordhan – Max Sisulu". City Press. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  44. ^ "Max Sisulu joins Save South Africa assembly - latest in roster of big names standing up against Zuma". Sunday Times. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  45. ^ "#ANC54: Communists out in the cold". IOL. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  46. ^ "Appointment of director". Harmony. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  47. ^ "ANC saddened by Sisulu death". The Mail & Guardian. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  48. ^ "Memorial planned for Sisulu". News24. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  49. ^ "Home and Away – Shaka Sisulu". News24. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  50. ^ "New book provides insight into Sisulu family". The Mail & Guardian. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
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