Bulelani Ngcuka
Encyclopedia
Bulelani T Ngcuka was the first national Director of Public Prosecutions
in South Africa
, and is the husband of former Deputy President of South Africa
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
. He was embroiled in controversy after being accused of being an apartheid spy.
and schooled in the former Bantustan
of Transkei
. He obtained his B.Proc at the University of Fort Hare
in 1977 and went to work for the Durban
law firm of Griffiths Mxenge
as an articled clerk
in 1978. He finished his articles at GM Mxenge Law Firm in 1981, the same year Mxenge was assassinated by apartheid hit men. He spent eight months in solitary confinement in 1981 and was jailed for three years in 1982 for refusing to give evidence in the political trial of Patrick Maqubele and others. While in prison, he completed his LLB through University of South Africa
(Unisa).
When Ngcuka was released in 1985 he left for Switzerland
and worked at the equality of human rights branch of International Labour Organisation in Geneva
for two years. It was here that he married Phumzile Mlambo and they now have a son, Luyolo.
On his return to South Africa, Ngcuka joined N.J Yekiso & Associates Law Firm in Cape Town
. He set up his own firm, Partner Ngcuka & Martana Law Firm in 1989, but became increasingly involved in politics. He also helped set up the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, an alternative legal association to the established, white law societies. From 1990 to 1994 he worked as a researcher at the Community Law Centre of the University of the Western Cape
.
in the Western Cape
and later became chairperson. He was again detained for organising the Nelson Mandela
birthday in 1988. The same year he was elected onto the panel of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa. Ngcuka was also member of the African National Congress
(ANC)'s delegation to Codesa in 1991 and to the multi-party negotiations in Kempton Park
from 1992 to 1993. Ngcuka was the leader of the ANC Preparatory Delegation to parliament from 1993 to 1994. 1994 Ngcuka became a senator. From 1994 to 1997 he was the ANCs Chief Whip in the Senate and in February 1997 he was elected permanent Deputy Chair of the National Council of Provinces
, and was largely responsible for implementing the provisions of the Constitution relating to the council. He was chairperson of Joint committee on Human Rights Commission and member of the following committees: Joint Committee on Public Protector, Steering Committee on Public Protector, Steering committee on implementation of the new constitution, Senate rules committee, Senate select committee on Justice and the Judicial Services Commission.On 16 July 1998, he was elected as the first National Director of Public Prosecutions (a sort of super attorney general) and by 1999 was an affiliate member of the International Association of Prosecutors
.
His wife, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
, became the Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs in Thabo Mbeki
's cabinet, and later Deputy President of South Africa
.
Ngcuka was voted 89th in the Top 100 Great South Africans
in 2004.
Ngcuka's mother Nokhuselo died on 22 September 2004 at Pretoria
's Louis Pasteur Hospital.
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and is the husband of former Deputy President of South Africa
Deputy President of South Africa
The Deputy President of South Africa is the acting President of South Africa when the President is outside the country's borders, unable to fulfill the duties of the office, or when the Presidency is vacant. The Deputy President is also a member of the National Assembly and the Cabinet...
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is a South African politician who was Deputy President of South Africa from 2005 to 2008. She was the first woman to hold the position and was the highest ranking woman in the history of South Africa...
. He was embroiled in controversy after being accused of being an apartheid spy.
Early life and legal career
Bulelani Ngcuka, one of five siblings, was born in Middledrift, Eastern CapeEastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...
and schooled in the former Bantustan
Bantustan
A bantustan was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa , as part of the policy of apartheid...
of Transkei
Transkei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
. He obtained his B.Proc at the University of Fort Hare
University of Fort Hare
The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution in higher education for black Africans from 1916 to 1959. It offered a Western-style, academically excellent education to students from across sub-Saharan Africa, creating a black...
in 1977 and went to work for the Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
law firm of Griffiths Mxenge
Griffiths Mxenge
Griffiths Mxenge, was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Trained as a lawyer, he was assassinated by the apartheid secret police in 1981. He was a member of the African National Congress . He was sent to Robben Island in 1966 because of his political activities...
as an articled clerk
Articled clerk
An articled clerk, also known as an articling student, is an apprentice in a professional firm in Commonwealth countries. Generally the term arises in the accountancy profession and in the legal profession. The articled clerk signs a contract, known as "articles of clerkship", committing to a...
in 1978. He finished his articles at GM Mxenge Law Firm in 1981, the same year Mxenge was assassinated by apartheid hit men. He spent eight months in solitary confinement in 1981 and was jailed for three years in 1982 for refusing to give evidence in the political trial of Patrick Maqubele and others. While in prison, he completed his LLB through University of South Africa
University of South Africa
The University of South Africa is a distance education university, with headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa. With approximately 300 000 enrolled students, it qualifies as one of the world's mega universities.-History:...
(Unisa).
When Ngcuka was released in 1985 he left for Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and worked at the equality of human rights branch of International Labour Organisation in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
for two years. It was here that he married Phumzile Mlambo and they now have a son, Luyolo.
On his return to South Africa, Ngcuka joined N.J Yekiso & Associates Law Firm in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. He set up his own firm, Partner Ngcuka & Martana Law Firm in 1989, but became increasingly involved in politics. He also helped set up the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, an alternative legal association to the established, white law societies. From 1990 to 1994 he worked as a researcher at the Community Law Centre of the University of the Western Cape
University of the Western Cape
The University of the Western Cape is a public university located in the Bellville suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1960 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only...
.
Political career
In 1987 Ngcuka became active in the United Democratic FrontUnited Democratic Front (South Africa)
The United Democratic Front was one of the most important anti-apartheid organisations of the 1980s. The non-racial coalition of about 400 civic, church, students', workers' and other organisations was formed in 1983, initially to fight the just-introduced idea of the Tricameral Parliament The...
in the Western Cape
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
and later became chairperson. He was again detained for organising the Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
birthday in 1988. The same year he was elected onto the panel of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa. Ngcuka was also member of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(ANC)'s delegation to Codesa in 1991 and to the multi-party negotiations in Kempton Park
Kempton Park, Gauteng
Kempton Park is a city on the East Rand in the Gauteng province, South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality in the Transvaal, Kempton Park no longer has its own municipal government, and has been part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since 2000...
from 1992 to 1993. Ngcuka was the leader of the ANC Preparatory Delegation to parliament from 1993 to 1994. 1994 Ngcuka became a senator. From 1994 to 1997 he was the ANCs Chief Whip in the Senate and in February 1997 he was elected permanent Deputy Chair of the National Council of Provinces
National Council of Provinces
The National Council of Provinces is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the constitution which came into full effect in 1997...
, and was largely responsible for implementing the provisions of the Constitution relating to the council. He was chairperson of Joint committee on Human Rights Commission and member of the following committees: Joint Committee on Public Protector, Steering Committee on Public Protector, Steering committee on implementation of the new constitution, Senate rules committee, Senate select committee on Justice and the Judicial Services Commission.On 16 July 1998, he was elected as the first National Director of Public Prosecutions (a sort of super attorney general) and by 1999 was an affiliate member of the International Association of Prosecutors
International Association of Prosecutors
The International Association of Prosecutors, IAP - the only global non-governmental organisation of prosecutors, established by the United Nations in 1995, Vienna.Organisation includes about 200,000 members from over 120 states....
.
His wife, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is a South African politician who was Deputy President of South Africa from 2005 to 2008. She was the first woman to hold the position and was the highest ranking woman in the history of South Africa...
, became the Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs in Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served two terms as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008. He is also the brother of Moeletsi Mbeki...
's cabinet, and later Deputy President of South Africa
Deputy President of South Africa
The Deputy President of South Africa is the acting President of South Africa when the President is outside the country's borders, unable to fulfill the duties of the office, or when the Presidency is vacant. The Deputy President is also a member of the National Assembly and the Cabinet...
.
Present
He resigned as Chairman of the board of directors of Basil Read Holdings Ltd in May 2009 and was replaced by Sindele Peteni. He held ZAR96 million worth of shares in the company. From August 2010, he will assume the chair of City Lodge Hotels through his association with Vuwa Holdings that has a 6% share in the company.Ngcuka was voted 89th in the Top 100 Great South Africans
SABC3's Great South Africans
Great South Africans was a South African television series that aired on SABC3 and hosted by Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time...
in 2004.
Ngcuka's mother Nokhuselo died on 22 September 2004 at Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
's Louis Pasteur Hospital.