Senzo Mfayela
Member of the National Assembly
In office
May 1994 – June 1999
Personal details
Born
Senzo Brian Mfayela

(1961-11-23) 23 November 1961
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyInkatha Freedom Party
Alma materUniversity of Fort Hare

Senzo Brian Mfayela (born 23 November 1961) is a South African businessman and former politician who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999. He is the chief executive officer of Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Buthelezi Foundation.

Early life and career

Born on 23 November 1961,[1] Mfayela attended Fort Hare University until he was expelled for participating in student-organised boycotts.[2] His father represented the IFP (then called Inkatha) in the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly,[2] and he joined the party's Central Committee before the end of apartheid.[3] During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it was wrongly reported that testimony had implicated Mfayela in political assassinations in Natal during apartheid; the testimony in fact implicated another person of the same surname.[4]

Post-apartheid career

Mfayela was elected to the National Assembly in South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994.[5] While serving in his seat, he was also the IFP's national organiser.[6][7] He served a single term in his seat: although he was nominated to stand for re-election in 1999,[1] he narrowly failed to gain re-election, and weeks after the vote, he announced that he was leaving frontline politics to pursue a business career.[8]

After resigning from politics, he was appointed as an executive director at Masithembe Investments, a KwaZulu-Natal-based black economic empowerment consortium led by Ziba Jiyane.[8] In later years, he held several business interests, including shares and directorships in IFP-linked companies[9][10] and in Dezzo Holdings, a politically connected company that was controversially awarded a R2.1-billion housing contract with the government in 2011.[11][12] He is currently the chief executive officer of the Buthelezi Foundation, a charitable foundation that aims to "preserve the legacy" of its patron, IFP founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "General Notice: Electoral Commission Notice 1113 of 1999 – Final List of Candidates" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 26 May 1999. p. 242. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 Francis, Suzanne (2011). Institutionalizing Elites: Political Elite Formation and Change in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature. Brill. pp. 108, 116. ISBN 978-90-04-21922-9.
  3. ↑ "Wave of assassinations grips S. Africa". Baltimore Sun. 20 February 1992. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "Amnesty Hearings". Truth Commission Special Report. 23 October 1998. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  5. ↑ South Africa: Campaign and Election Report April 26–29, 1994. International Republican Institute. 1994. Retrieved 13 April 2023 – via Yumpu.
  6. ↑ "Ngubane will bow to Buthelezi's bidding". The Mail & Guardian. 31 January 1997. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "New row over political leader murders". The Mail & Guardian. 8 December 1995. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  8. 1 2 "South Africa: IFP MP Quits Politics To Join The Business World". BusinessDay. 12 July 1999. Retrieved 15 August 2020 – via AllAfrica.
  9. ↑ "The salesman who admitted graft". The Mail & Guardian. 25 February 2005. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "An empire built on controversy". News24. 4 June 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "Probe into R2bn tender". Sowetan. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  12. ↑ "Mystery over R2bn Pietermaritzburg mega property deal". IOL Property. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Trustees". The Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Foundation. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
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