Minister of Transport

Personal

• Date of Birth: 18 February 1953
• Marital Status: Married

Current Positions

• Minister of Transport of the Republic of South Africa since 29 April 2004.
• Member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1991.
• Member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1991.
• Member of the SACP Central Committee.
• Head of the ANC Policy Unit.
• Board member of the Local Organising Committee of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
• Honorary Colonel of the South African Air Force.

Academic Qualifications

• B. jur degree, University of Zululand (1976).
• LLM in International Law, Leipzig University (1981).
• Studied at the Lenin International School, Moscow (1985).

Career/Positions/Memberships/Other Activities

• Student activist
• Joined the underground stuctures of the ANC during the student uprisings (1976).
• Served legal articles in Durban (1976).
• Left for Mozambique on instruction of the ANC (1977).
• Radio journalist with Radio Freedom, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (two years).
• Worked for the ANC's International Department, Zambia.
• Created underground ANC and South African Communist Party (SACP) structures inside South Africa from Lesotho, giving political direction to activists.
• Underwent military training with Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
• Arrested in Johannesburg and convicted under the Terrorism Act. His 10 year sentence was reduced to six years on appeal (1986).
• Active in the ANC's political department in Robben Island. Head of the department by the time he left Robben Island. Released after organising a successful 12-day hunger strike to speed up the release of political prisoners (1990).
• Member of the Business Trust (1998 - 2003).
• Member of the Ex Political Prisoners Committee (1995).
• Project Co-ordinator for the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel) (1990-1991)
• Elected Deputy Chairperson of the ANC, Southern Natal Region (1990).
• Chairperson of ANC's Southern Natal Region (November 1991 - 1994).
• Secretary of the SACP's interim Leadership Core (1990 - 1991).
• Served on the Natal Regional Dispute Resolution Committee (1991 - 1994).
• Minister of Public Works of the Republic of South Africa (1994 - 16 June 1999).
• Chairperson of the Regional ANC Peace Forum (1991-1994)
• Chairperson of the Nelson Mandela 80th birthday Committee (1998).
• Minister of Public Enterprises of the Republic of South Africa (17 June 1999 - 28 April 2004).

Awards/Decorations/Presentations/Bursaries

• Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters, by University of Chigago (1996).
• Leucospermum flower named Radebe Sunrise (23 October 2005).
• Awarded an Honorary Colonel by SA Air Force, Mobile Deployment Wing (2006).