Joe Phaahla

Mathume Joseph Phaahla (born 11 July 1957) is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Minister of Health since August 2021.

Phaahla was born on 11 July 1957 in Ga-Phaahla, a rural village in the former Northern Transvaal.

His political involvement began at university, where he was a member of the student representative council from 1979 to 1981.

He was the president of the Azanian Students' Organisation from 1981 to 1983 and later was a regional leader in the United Democratic Front.

A founding member of the Azanian Students' Organisation, he was AZASO's national president from 1981 to 1983.

In 1982, he told the Christian Science Monitor that one of his priorities as AZASO president was to establish closer ties with community and labour organisations.

He completed an MBBS at the University of Natal in 1983.

He also holds tertiary diplomas, including one in health service management from the University of Haifa.

In 1983, still living in Natal, he joined the United Democratic Front and was elected as its regional secretary.

He was a senior medical officer and superintendent at Mapulaneng Hospital in Bushbuckridge from 1987 until 1990, when he was appointed as medical superintendent at St Rita's Hospital in Glen Cowie; then, between 1993 and 1994, he was the director of medical services in the Department of Health of Lebowa, an apartheid-era bantustan.

At the same time, Phaahla was active in the anti-apartheid movement.

He was also a member of the ANC Provincial Executive Committee from 1991 to 2001, including as Deputy Provincial Chairperson from 1994 to 1998.

Later, during the negotiations to end apartheid, he was a regional leader of the African National Congress (ANC); he was a member of the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee in the Northern Transvaal (later called Limpopo) from 1991 to 2001.

Upon the end of apartheid in 1994, Phaahla left his medical career to join the inaugural Executive Council of Limpopo; under Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, he was the province's first Member of the Executive Council for Health from 1994 to 1997 and then Member of the Executive Council for Education from 1997 to 2000.

After graduating, and until the end of apartheid in 1994, Phaahla worked as a doctor and medical administrator in the Transvaal.

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Phaahla was elected to represent the ANC in the newly established Limpopo Provincial Legislature (then still named after the Northern Transvaal).

He was also appointed to the Executive Council of Ngoako Ramatlhodi, the Premier of Limpopo, who named him as the province's inaugural Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health and Welfare.

From 1994 to 1998, he served as Deputy Provincial Chairperson of the Limpopo ANC, deputising Ramathlodi and then George Mashamba.

Mashamba was controversially elected as Provincial Chairperson in December 1996, after the frontrunners for the position – Phaahla and Peter Mokaba – declined nominations to stand, reportedly urged by President Nelson Mandela to allow an uncontested election for the sake of party unity. At the next provincial party elective conference in 1998, Phaahla ran to succeed Mashamba but was defeated by Ramathlodi, who returned to the chairmanship.

He remained in the health portfolio until 1 July 1997, when Ramatlhodi announced a reshuffle that saw Phaahla replace Aaron Motsoaledi as MEC for Education; Hunadi Mateme, in turn, succeeded Phaahla as Health MEC.

Between 2000 and 2009, Phaahla took a hiatus from legislative politics, initially to work in sports administration as the head of the South African Sports Commission and then as the head of the government's preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

He remained in that position until 2000, gaining re-election to the provincial legislature in June 1999.

Throughout this period, Phaahla was an influential figure in the provincial ANC, with particular popularity in Sekhukhune.

In 2000, Phaahla retreated from legislative politics to work as a sports administrator, initially as the chief executive officer of the South African Sports Commission from 2000 to 2005; the commission was the overall regulator of all sports federations in the country, a forerunner of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

Phaahla, however, remained a member of the ANC Provincial Executive Committee until 2001.

In August 2005, Phaahla was appointed to a three-year term as director-general in charge of the government unit that coordinated South Africa's preparations for hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

According to the Mail & Guardian, Phaahla was admired as a sports administrator and his appointment to the unit was "welcomed by all sides".

During this period, he also served as acting director-general of the Department of Sports and Recreation.

During this period, at the ANC's Polokwane conference in December 2007, Phaahla was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee for the first time.

Phaahla remained active in the ANC while working in sports administration, and in December 2007 he attended the party's 52nd National Conference in Polokwane, where Jacob Zuma was elected as ANC president.

From 2008 to 2009, during the 2009 general election campaign, he worked at Luthuli House as the head of the ANC presidency under Jacob Zuma.

In January 2008, he asked to be relieved early from his contract as director-general in order to pursue opportunities in the private sector and dedicate more time to party-political work.

The World Cup unit announced in March 2008 that he would leave at the end of that month.

He had been a deputy minister since May 2009, when he joined the National Assembly.

He is also a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC).

Born in Limpopo, Phaahla trained as a medical doctor at the University of Natal, where he became active in the anti-apartheid movement.

Phaahla was elected to the National Assembly in the 2009 election and was appointed as Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform under Zuma's first cabinet from 2009 to 2010.

After that, he served as Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture from 2010 to 2014, and then as Deputy Minister of Health from 2014 to 2021.

President Cyril Ramaphosa promoted him to the cabinet on 5 August 2021 following the resignation of the former Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize.

He was formerly the Deputy Minister of Health from May 2014 to August 2021.