Reginah Mhaule
{{Short description|South African politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = The Honourable
| name = Reginah Mhaule
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| honorific_suffix = MP
| image =
| smallimage =
| alt =
| caption =
| order =
| office = Deputy Minister of Basic Education
| status = Incumbent
| term_start = 29 May 2019
| term_end =
| alongside =
| monarch =
| president = Cyril Ramaphosa
| minister = Angie Motshekga
Siviwe Gwarube
| taoiseach =
| chancellor =
| governor =
| vicepresident =
| viceprimeminister =
| deputy =
| lieutenant =
| vicechair =
| predecessor = Enver Surty
| office2 = Member of the National Assembly
| term_start2 = 26 February 2018
| office3 = Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
| term_start3 = 26 February 2018
| term_end3 = 7 May 2019
| president3 = Cyril Ramaphosa
| alongside3 = Luwellyn Landers
| minister3 = Lindiwe Sisulu
| predecessor3 = Nomaindiya Mfeketo
| successor3 = Alvin Botes
Candith Mashego-Dlamini
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Prior offices
{{nobold|2003–2018}}
|titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office4 = Member of the Mpumalanga Executive Council for Education
| term_start4 = May 2009
| term_end4 = 26 February 2018
| premier4 = David Mabuza
| predecessor4 = Mmathulare Coleman
| successor4 = Sibusiso Malaza
| office5 = Member of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature
| term_start5 = 6 May 2009
| term_end5 = 26 February 2018
| term_end6 =
| office7 = Executive Mayor of Mbombela
| term_start7 = 2003
| term_end7 = 2006
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
| birth_name = Makgabo Reginah Mhaule
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1961|12|1}}
| birth_place = Hazyview, Transvaal
South Africa
| party = African National Congress
| alma_mater = University of Fort Hare (PhD)
}}
Makgabo Reginah Mhaule (born 1 December 1961) is a South African politician from Mpumalanga who is currently serving as Deputy Minister of Basic Education. She has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly since 2018.
Mhaule is a teacher by profession and entered government as a local councillor in Mbombela Local Municipality, where she was Executive Mayor from 2003 to 2006. After that, she served in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature from 2009 to 2018. Throughout that time, she was Mpumalanga's Member of the Executive Council for Education in the provincial government of Premier David Mabuza.
She has been an elected member of the ANC National Executive Committee since December 2017, and she joined the National Assembly in February 2018, when President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed her as Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. She remained in that portfolio until after the 2019 general election, when she was appointed to her current office.
Education and early career
Mhaule was born on 1 December 1961{{Cite web |title=Deputy Minister of Basic Education: Makgabo Reginah Mhaule, Dr |url=https://www.education.gov.za/AboutUs/AboutDBE/DeputyMinister.aspx |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Department of Basic Education}} in Hazyview in the former Eastern Transvaal.{{Cite journal |date=2009 |title=An Abridged Profile of the MEC |url=http://www.mpumalanga.gov.za/education/whats_new/Vol2-2009.pdf |journal=S'bukosetfu |volume=2 |pages=5}} She trained as a teacher after graduating high school. Later, after the end of apartheid, she completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of South Africa in 1996, a Bachelor of Education Honours at the University of Potchefstroom in 2002, and a Master's in public administration at the University of Pretoria in 2012.{{Cite web |title=Reginah Mhaule, Dr |url=https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/international-relations-and-cooperation-1-deputy-ministry/reginah |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=South African Government}} In May 2019, she completed a doctorate in public administration at the University of Fort Hare, with a dissertation about education outcomes in KwaMhlanga.{{Cite news |date=20 May 2019 |title=Deputy Minister Reginah Mhaule receives Doctorate from Fort Hare |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/deputy-minister-reginah-mhaule-receives-doctorate-from-fort-hare-23608082 |access-date=22 July 2023}}
She began her career as a primary school teacher in the Eastern Transvaal in 1980, though she later moved to a secondary school, Sibukosetfu Secondary in Hazyview, where she rose to become deputy principal and acting principal. During her 20 years as a teacher, she was also politically active; she was the inaugural chairperson of the local Hazyview branch of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union when the union was established in 1990, and she also became a member of the African National Congress (ANC).
Mbombela Local Municipality: 2000–2006
In the December 2000 local elections, Mhaule was elected to represent the ANC as a local councillor in Mbombela Local Municipality in the Eastern Transvaal, by then renamed as Mpumalanga Province. She also became speaker of the council. In July 2003, she was promoted when she was elected as mayor of Mbombela. She held that office for three years, departing the council entirely in 2006. Thereafter she worked as a senior manager in the provincial Department of Roads and Transport until 2009.
Mpumalanga Executive Council: 2009–2018
In the April 2009 general election, Mhaule was elected to an ANC seat in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature. On 12 May, newly elected Premier David Mabuza announced that she would also join the Executive Council of Mpumalanga as Member of the Executive Council for Education.{{Cite web |date=13 May 2009 |title=Mpuma Premier announces his new cabinet |url=https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/mpuma-premier-announces-his-new-cabinet |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=South African Government News Agency |language=en}} She was re-elected to her seat in the 2014 general election and remained in office for the remainder of Mabuza's premiership.
During this period, Mhaule rose through the ranks of the ANC's provincial and national structures. In 2015, she was co-opted as a member of the ANC National Executive Committee,{{Cite web |date=2015-03-30 |title=Cosatu fires Zwelinzima Vavi |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-03-30-cosatu-fires-zwelinzima-vavi/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} and she was elected to a full five-year term on the committee at the ANC's 54th National Conference in December 2017.{{Cite web |date=21 December 2017 |title=Meet the new ANC NEC |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/meet-the-new-anc-nec-20171221 |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} Indeed, at the 2017 conference, she was the third-most popular candidate, behind only Zweli Mkhize and Lindiwe Zulu. The Citizen reported that Mabuza had lobbied heavily for her candidacy, possibly because he wanted her to act as his "de-facto chief whip" in the committee.{{Cite web |last=Mathope |first=Gosebo |date=2017-12-22 |title=Mhaule, Mpumalanga fraud-accused MEC and ANC's 9th most popular leader |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/news/mhaule-fraud-accused-mec-who-is-ancs-9th-most-popular-leader/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=The Citizen |language=en}}
National government
= International Relations and Cooperation: 2018–2019 =
On 26 February 2018, recently elected President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his cabinet and named Mhaule as Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation under Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.{{Cite web |date=2018-02-26 |title=New deputy president, finance minister announced in major Cabinet reshuffle |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-02-26-ramaphosa-cabinet-reshuffle-february-2018/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} She was one of two deputy ministers in the portfolio, serving alongside Luwellyn Landers. In order to take up this position in the national government, Mhaule resigned from the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature and was sworn in to the National Assembly.{{Cite web |date=2018-02-27 |title=DD Mabuza and Reginah Mhaule hand in resignation |url=https://mpumalanganews.co.za/332578/dd-mabuza-reginah-mhaule-hand-resignation/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Mpumalanga News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Herman |first=Paul |date=27 February 2018 |title=This is a transitional Cabinet – Ramaphosa on reshuffle |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/this-is-a-transitional-cabinet-ramaphosa-on-reshuffle-20180227 |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} James Masango, the provincial leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, objected to Mhaule's promotion, claiming that both she and Mabuza – who was appointed as Ramaphosa's Deputy President – had "left havoc in the departments they oversaw" in Mpumalanga.{{Cite web |date=27 February 2018 |title=Mabuza's promotion an indication of a bigger problem – DA |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2018-02-27-mabuzas-promotion-an-indication-of-a-bigger-problem-da/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}
= Basic Education: 2019–present =
In the May 2019 general election, Mhaule was elected to a full term in the National Assembly, ranked 57th on the ANC's national party list.{{Cite web |title=Makgabo Reginah Mhaule |url=http://www.pa.org.za/person/makgabo-reginah-mhaule/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=People's Assembly |language=en}} In the aftermath of the election, Ramaphosa appointed her as Deputy Minister of Basic Education under long-serving Minister Angie Motshekga.{{Cite web |date=2019-05-29 |title=Unionists, women and an alleged smuggler? Who's who in Ramaphosa's Cabinet |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-29-unionists-women-and-an-alleged-smuggler-whos-who-in-ramaphosas-cabinet/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} In December 2022, at the ANC's 55th National Conference, she was narrowly re-elected to the ANC National Executive Committee, ranked 78th of the 80 ordinary members elected.{{Cite web |date=22 December 2022 |title=ANC NEC members |url=https://www.enca.com/news/full-list-anc-nec-members |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=eNCA |language=en}}
Personal life
Mhaule is married. In January 2019, her domestic worker opened a complaint against her with the police, alleging that Mhaule might have drawn her salary fraudulently.{{Cite web |date=28 January 2017 |title=Domestic worker opens fraud case against Mpumalanga MEC's office |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/domestic-worker-opens-fraud-case-against-mpumalanga-mecs-office-20170128 |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{People's Assembly (South Africa)|makgabo-reginah-mhaule|Dr. Makgabo Reginah Mhaule}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mhaule, Reginah}}
Category:African National Congress politicians
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029
Category:Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa
Category:Members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature
Category:People from Mbombela Local Municipality
Category:University of Fort Hare alumni
Category:University of South Africa alumni
Category:University of Pretoria alumni
Category:Mayors of places in South Africa
Category:Women mayors of places in South Africa
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2019–2024
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2014–2019