Thabang Makwetla

Thabang Sampson Makwetla MP (, born 18 May 1957) is a South African politician affiliated with the African National Congress (ANC).

Thabang Sampson Phathakge Makwetla was born on 18 May 1957 in Lydenburg, a mining town in the Eastern Transvaal province, now known as Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Since he participated in the Soweto Student Uprising in June 1976, he was forced to flee the country before he could matriculate.

He fled to Lesotho to complete his schooling and joined the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), later serving as an instructor and political commissar in the organization.

While serving in the MK, Makwetla was stationed in neighboring countries, such as Angola, Botswana, and Zambia.

Matwetla received education in Europe, earning a diploma from the Academy of Sciences in Bulgaria, and also undertook a short military training course from the Soviet Union in 1979.

Makwetla returned to Africa and worked as treasurer for the South African Communist Party in the Botswanan region from 1981 to 1990.

It was near the end of apartheid when Makwetla returned to South Africa, joining the National Executive Committee of the ANC's youth wing, the African National Congress Youth League.

He has also served as the Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, and was Premier of Mpumalanga province between 2004 and 2009.

As a consequence of this support, Makwetla lost his position of provincial chairperson of Mpumalanga to his deputy David Mabuza who supported Jacob Zuma's successful bid to be ANC President at the 2007 Polokwane national congress, but later Makwetla was able to assume the role of deputy of the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.

During a conference with former MK soldiers in Johannesburg, he accused MK Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe of seeking to "derail his vision" by interfering in the politics of the ANC.

He began to lash out during the meeting, specifically at the MKMVA for performing “an intention on the part of [their] leadership to convene a unilateral conference aimed deliberately at sidelining the overwhelming majority of former members of MK.", which intensified a divide between the two groups.

In the late 2000s, Makwetla was reported to have pledged his support for former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, who announced his resignation amidst corruption charges on 20 September 2008.

He is a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa and is the current Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, a role he previously served in between 2009 and 2014.

Makwetla delivered a noted progress report to ANC Representatives on 9 March 2012 in Johannesburg, during his term as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.

He stated in the report that soldiers could, "receive counselling as their [sic] lives had been disrupted at the time of the struggle for the democracy," as well as educate veterans, wanting to, "provide entrepreneurial training for those interested in taking up business careers."

During his term as Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Makwetla visited St. Alban's Prison in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where a clash between inmates and officers resulted in three deaths.

During the 27 December 2016 visit, he stated, “In order to strengthen our enforcement capabilities, we have decided to place St. Albans on a lockdown and suspend all family visits to the centre.

This is a necessary precautionary step in order to bring back normalcy to the centre” and, “the Ministry wish to commend officials who managed to quell down this rebellious act that could have led to a calamitous situation on our hands.

In the same vein, our condolences and sympathy goes to the families and relatives of the deceased inmates[.]"

In late March 2016, articles were released by the Dutch news outlet The Edge Search, as well as the South African paper Independent Online (IOL), which both claimed that Makwetla had been "fobbing off the government" to pay for his alcohol addiction.

The articles received little attention, and in the long run have not significantly affected Makwetla's position.

It was reported a fight had broken out between factions of the MKMVA in late 2017, "One group, made up of some MKMVA members and the MK National Council led by Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Thabang Makwetla and former MK chief of staff Siphiwe Nyanda, has threatened to go to court if the ANC fails to nullify the results of an MKMVA elective conference in June at which Kebby Maphatsoe was re-elected president."

Makwetla has denounced the rampant corruption and immorality of South African governments while in office.

In a media briefing, he stated that, “there is a need for lifestyle audits and vetting of ANC leadership at all levels of the organisation, stamping out corruption and state capture", and separately, "You cannot have any group of people who purport to have the capacity to protect lives in South Africa who are not mandated to do so.

We have police, military establishment to deal with unlawful acts."

On 30 March 2017, Makwetla officially opened a new pharmacy at the Mthatha Correctional Centre to provide medication to the 4000 inmates in correctional centres in Mthatha and its surrounding areas, such as Tabankulu and Mount Fletcher.

On 26 September 2017, Makwetla built a new home for a Soweto family in Moletsane, after their original home burned in an electrical fire.

He was joined by parolees from seven different police facilities in the area.

On 6 December 2017, Makwetla helped organise the construction of a different home for 93-year-old Harriet Mfolozi, and her unemployed 30-year-old grandson in the Eastern Cape town of Lusikisiki.

They were previously living in a mud house.

On the evening of 21 May 2017, Makwetla was driving by himself to Life Riverfield Hospital (a psychiatric care and addiction treatment facility west of Johannesburg), with the intent of visiting Mongane Wally Serote, a renowned South African poet and African National Congress (ANC) supporter.

When he arrived at the clinic's gates at approximately 19:30, four masked men in the vehicle behind him shuffled out and approached two of the hospital guards, threatening them.

Makwetla is a member of the African National Congress, a centre-left democratic-socialist party, and is working under the cabinet of South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office after Jacob Zuma's resignation on 14 February 2018.

Makwetla is a leftist, a political stance substantiated by his history as a member of the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress.

Makwetla, during his time as an ANC chairman, was asked about how to cease the spreading of HIV and AIDS throughout South Africa.

"As the ANC, we need to lead in this regard to change attitudes associated with being infected with the AIDS virus," and, "We should start seeing AIDS for what it is, a biological disaster visited upon humanity, and stop blaming individuals."

During the #SONA2018 (State of the Nation Address 2018) controversy, Chief Whip of the Opposition and Member of the South African National Assembly John Steenhuisen stated during a debate speech to members of parliament, which Makwetla was attending, "To the Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla, I actually don’t know what you’re doing here. You need to be out building more prisons, we’re going to need a hell of a lot more of them soon with these Zuptas. There’s already overcrowding, there’ll be lots more when these people start to fall," alluding to the corruption of former South African president Jacob Zuma.

Steenhuisen also spent much of the tirade "humiliating" the ANC and its more recognized members.

He has vehemently denied that he benefited unduly from Bosasa.