Minister of Arts & Culture

Personal

• Date of Birth: 22 May 1942

Current Positions

• Minister of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa since 29 April 2004.
• Member of the National Executive Council (NEC) and the National Working Committee (NWC) of African National Congress (ANC) since December 2007.

Academic Qualifications

• Studied at the University of Wisconsin in the United States of America (USA) (1962).
• Acquired a post-graduate degree from the London School of Economics.

Career/Positions/Memberships/Other Activities

• Member of the research unit of the African National Congress (ANC) in its Department of Information and Publicity (1975).
• Appointed head of Radio Freedom (1977).
• Appointed director of the ANC's first internal mass propaganda campaign, "The Year of the Spear", marking the centenary of the Battle of the Isandhlwana of 1879 (1979).
• Head of the ANC's research unit of the Department of Information and Publicity (1980).
• Elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC)since 1985.
• Served as administrative secretary of the NEC Secretariat (1985 - 1988).
• Served on the NEC's Strategy and Tactics Committee as convenor (1985 - 1989).
• Director of Information and Publicity (1989).
• Served on the NEC's sub-committee on negotiations and the NEC's sub-committee on Constitutional Guidelines.
• Returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC (1990).
• Member of Parliament in the National Assembly (1994 to date).
• Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting (1996 - 1996).
• Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (1996 - 1999).
• Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Portfolio Committee (2002 - 2004).