Vincent Ngema
{{Short description|South African politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| party = National Democratic Convention (since 2005)
| office1 = Member of the National Assembly
| termstart1 = August 2002
| termend1 = January 2009
| citizenship = South Africa
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|07|17|df=yes}}
| constituency1 = KwaZulu-Natal
| otherparty = Inkatha Freedom Party (until 2005)
| birth_name = Mzikayise Vincent Ngema
}}
Mzikayise Vincent Ngema (born 17 July 1950){{cite magazine |date=11 June 1999 |title=General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures |url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/za/1999/za-government-gazette-dated-1999-06-11-no-20203.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=408 |issue=20203 |pages= |access-date=26 March 2021}} is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2009. He was elected as a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) but crossed the floor to the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) in September 2005. He was elected as secretary-general of Nadeco in April 2007.
Legislative career
= Inkatha Freedom Party =
Ngema was elected to an IFP seat in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in the 1999 general election, but the IFP transferred him and two others to the National Assembly in August 2002.{{Cite news |date=13 August 2002 |title=IFP in bid to strengthen its KZN team |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/ifp-in-bid-to-strengthen-its-kzn-team-91363 |access-date=11 May 2023}} Observers assumed that their transfers were part of the IFP's strategy to ensure that only its most loyal members were assigned to the provincial legislature, where the party was in danger of losing its majority.{{Cite web |date=2002-06-20 |title=Paranoia ‘rife’ in Inkatha |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2002-06-21-paranoia-rife-in-inkatha/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}
Ngema was elected to a full term in the National Assembly in the 2004 general election, representing the KwaZulu-Natal constituency.{{cite magazine |date=20 April 2004 |title=General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004 |url=https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/262770.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=466 |issue=2677 |pages=4–95 |access-date=26 March 2021}} After the election, President Thabo Mbeki invited Ngema to join his government as Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation. However, Ngema and Musa Zondi, another IFP politician offered a deputy ministerial position, told Mbeki that they could not accept the invitation until the IFP had discussed the nature of its relationship with Mbeki's party, the African National Congress; in response, Mbeki said that he would select other appointees who were "willing to take the oath and willing to work".{{Cite web |date=2004-04-29 |title=IFP rejects Cabinet positions |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2004-04-29-ifp-rejects-cabinet-positions/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}
= National Democratic Convention =
During the floor-crossing window of September 2005, Ngema joined three other IFP representatives – Makhosazana Mdlalose, Gavin Woods, and Chris Ngiba – in defecting to Nadeco, a party newly founded by former IFP member Ziba Jiyane.{{Cite web |date=2009-01-15 |title=National Assembly Members |url=http://www.pmg.org.za/parlinfo/nalist#_ftnref87 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514071402/http://www.pmg.org.za/parlinfo/nalist#_ftnref87 |archive-date=14 May 2009 |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=Parliamentary Monitoring Group}} The group said that they had left the IFP once it had become clear that there would be a purge in the party to remove those believed to be disloyal to the IFP.{{Cite news |date=7 September 2005 |title=Gavin Woods leaves IFP for new party |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/gavin-woods-leaves-ifp-for-new-party-252800 |access-date=13 June 2023}}
In August 2006, Jiyane announced that Ngema and Ngiba had been suspended from Nadeco pending a disciplinary hearing, amid an apparent power struggle.{{Cite web |date=2006-08-07 |title=Nadeco suspends three top members |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2006-08-07-nadeco-suspends-three-top-members/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2006-08-13 |title=Nadeco battle heads for court |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2006-08-13-nadeco-battle-heads-for-court/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Nonetheless, in April 2007, at the same party conference which ousted Jiyane from the leadership, Ngema was elected as the party's national secretary-general.{{Cite web |date=30 April 2007 |title=Mbatha the new leader of Nadeco |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2007-04-30-mbatha-the-new-leader-of-nadeco/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}} In the 2009 general election, Ngema stood for re-election to the National Assembly, ranked second on Nadeco's national party list,{{Cite web |date=6 April 2009 |title=2009 National and Provincial Election – Final Candidate Lists |url=https://www.elections.org.za/content/uploadedFiles/2009%20National%20and%20Provincial%20Election%20candidate%20lists.pdf?n=9151 |access-date=27 May 2023 |website=Electoral Commission of South Africa}} but Nadeco did not win any seats and subsequently faded into obscurity.
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:20th-century South African politicians
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2004–2009
Category:Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature
Category:Inkatha Freedom Party politicians
Category:National Democratic Convention politicians
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngema, Vincent}}