Kenny Morolong

Morolong was born on 17 February 1982 in Ipelengeng, a township outside Schweizer-Reneke in the present-day North West Province.{{Cite web |title=Kenneth Morolong, Mr |url=https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/presidency-2-deputy-ministry/kenneth-morolong-mr |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=South African Government}} He became politically engaged as a teenager: he was president of the local branch of the African National Congress (ANC) Young Pioneers from 1991 to 1994, and he went on to serve as the provincial chairperson of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) in the North West from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, he stood unsuccessfully for the position of national president of COSAS, losing to Julius Malema.{{Cite web |date=2015-06-25 |title=Who will fill Malema’s ANC boots? |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-25-who-will-fill-malemas-anc-boots/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} From 2001 to 2002, he was the coordinator of the regional task team that led the ANC Youth League's regional branch in Bophirima.{{Cite web |date=22 May 2015 |title=Kenny Morolong for ANCYL President |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/kenny-morolong-for-ancyl-president-20150521 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}

Over the next decade, Morolong served stints as an administrator in the ANC Parliamentary Constituency Office from 2005 to 2008, as chief executive officer of IKM Trading Enterprise from 2008 to 2009, and as an administrator in the office of the Member of the Executive Council for Sports, Arts and Culture in 2010. During his period, in July 2008, Morolong was involved in violent factional clashes in the North West ANC, precipitated by provincial secretary Supra Mahumapelo's attempt to suspend him from the party; Morolong reportedly beat two party members with a spanner, while a group of his supporters were arrested for torching ANC regional offices.{{Cite web |date=2008-07-13 |title=North West ANC erupts |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2008-07-13-north-west-anc-erupts/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In 2011, he was elected to the Provincial Executive Committee of the North West ANC, which in turn selected him as its spokesperson. By 2013, the Mail & Guardian reported that he had sided with Gordon Kegakilwe over Supra Mahumapelo in the factional contest that split the Provincial Executive.{{Cite web |date=2013-10-31 |title=ANC wobbles as Zuma acolytes face off |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-10-31-anc-wobbles-as-jz-acolytes-face-off/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In March 2013, on the recommendation of Parliament,{{Cite web |date=3 August 2012 |title=Youth agency gets a shake-up |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/youth-agency-gets-a-shake-up-20150429 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} President Jacob Zuma appointed Morolong to a three-year term as deputy chairman of the board of the National Youth Development Agency (NDYA).{{Cite web |date=22 March 2013 |title=Zuma appoints new NYDA board |url=https://www.news24.com/fin24/zuma-appoints-new-nyda-board-20130322 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} In that capacity he deputised board chairman Yershen Pillay. Both Pillay and Morolong were accused by critics of abusing NYDA's resources for their private political purposes – in Morolong's case, to support his unsuccessful bid to be elected as ANC Youth League president.{{Cite web |date=2015-09-10 |title=ANCYL vies for youth fund control |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-10-ancyl-vies-for-youth-fund-control/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Morolong had long been viewed as a possible candidate for leadership of the league, possibly as running mate to Ronald Lamola,{{Cite web |date=17 August 2014 |title=ANC Youth League leadership race heats up |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/archives/city-press/anc-youth-league-leadership-race-heats-up-20150430 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} but in 2015 Collen Maine was elected unopposed to the presidency.

Upon the conclusion of the NYDA board's three-year term, Morolong stood for reappointment but was dropped from the parliamentary shortlist, ostensibly on the grounds that he lacked the requisite tertiary qualification.{{Cite web |last=Makinana |first=Andisiwe |date=6 April 2016 |title=Parliament stops its ‘flawed’ NYDA process, starts afresh |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/parliament-stops-its-flawed-nyda-process-starts-afresh-20160406 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=City Press |language=en-US}} He challenged his exclusion, with Lamola representing him as his attorney, and the parliamentary process was rerun.{{Cite web |last=Gqirana |first=Thulani |date=25 January 2017 |title=We are not in this for the money – NYDA board candidate |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/we-are-not-in-this-for-the-money-nyda-board-candidate-20170125 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Gqirana |first=Thulani |date=24 February 2017 |title=Parliament approves NYDA board |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/parliament-approves-nyda-board-20170224-2 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=City Press |language=en-US}} In May 2017, President Zuma announced that Morolong's term as a board member would be renewed for three years, though he became an ordinary board member, with Bavelile Hlongwa replacing him as deputy chairperson.{{Cite web |last=Gerber |first=Jan |date=5 May 2017 |title=Zuma appoints new NYDA board |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/zuma-appoints-new-nyda-board-20170505-2 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} He served on the NYDA board until his ascension to Parliament two years later.

In the May 2019 general election, Morolong stood as a parliamentary candidate, ranked first on the ANC's party list in the North West. He was elected to a seat in the National Assembly, where he served in the Standing Committee on Finance.{{Cite web|title=Itiseng Kenneth Morolong|url=http://www.pa.org.za/person/itiseng-kenneth-morolong/|access-date=2021-10-21|website=People's Assembly|language=en}} Midway through the parliamentary term, in January 2023, the North West ANC served Morolong with internal disciplinary charges for bringing the ANC into disrepute in the aftermath of the electoral conference that elected Nono Maloyi as provincial chairperson; Morolong had publicly questioned the integrity of the electoral process.{{Cite web |last=Naki |first=Eric Mthobeli |date=2023-01-12 |title=ANC MP to face disciplinary action for misconduct |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/news/anc-mp-to-face-disciplinary-action-january-2023/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=The Citizen |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Masungwini |first=Norman |date=14 May 2023 |title=Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Morolong, in hot water |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/politics/deputy-minister-in-the-presidency-morolong-in-hot-water-20230514 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=City Press |language=en-US}}

In a cabinet reshuffle announced on 6 March 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Morolong as Deputy Minister in the Presidency; in that capacity he served under Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and alongside second deputy minister Sonto Motaung.{{Cite web |last=Zyl |first=Corné van |date=2023-03-06 |title=Cabinet reshuffle: Here's EVERY change made by Ramaphosa |url=https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/cabinet-reshuffle-heres-every-change-made-by-ramaphosa-breaking-news-6-march-2023/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=The South African |language=en-ZA}} After the next general election in May 2024, Morolong was re-elected to the National Assembly and retained in his deputy ministerial post; Ntshavheni was also retained, but Motaung was replaced by Nonceba Mhlauli.{{Cite news |date=30 June 2024 |title=Meet the new cabinet |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2024-06-30-meet-the-new-cabinet/ |access-date=2 July 2024 |work=The Sowetan}}{{Cite web |last=Khoza |first=Amanda |date=9 July 2024 |title=Super Presidency: Meet President Ramaphosa's new eyes and ears |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/super-presidency-meet-president-ramaphosas-new-eyes-and-ears-20240709 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://static.pmg.org.za/Morolong_Mr_Kenneth.pdf Curriculum vitae] at Parliamentary Monitoring Group

{{Current MPs of South Africa}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1982 births

Category:Tswana people

Category:African National Congress politicians

Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2019–2024

Category:People from Schweizer-Reneke