Collen Sedibe

Michael Collen Sedibe (born 23 September 1971) is a South African politician who is currently a Member of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature and the provincial leader of the legislature's official opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). He joined the EFF in 2013 after he was expelled from the African National Congress and he was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 2014 general election. In September 2022, he was elected to a third term as the EFF's Provincial Chairperson in Mpumalanga.

Early life and education Sedibe was born on 23 September 1971. According to the EFF, he was active in the South African Youth Congress and Congress of South African Students in the 1980s. He was arrested for his anti-apartheid activism. He matriculated in 1992 and in 1994 he enrolled in a public management degree at the University of the North at Turfloop, where he joined the South African Students Congress. Sedibe worked in the provincial government of Mpumalanga, first in the department of cooperative governance and then in the treasury department. He also remained active in the ANC: by 2012, he was Branch Chairperson of the ANC's White River branch. He was also known as an opponent of David Mabuza, who was the Premier of Mpumalanga between 2009 and 2018, and of the ANC faction aligned to Mabuza.

However, the ANC alleged that Sedibe had disrupted the April 2013 meeting, as well as two other party meetings, and he was subjected to an internal disciplinary hearing. and in January 2014, and he was listed first on the EFF's party list in the provincial election. He was elected to one of two EFF-held seats in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature.

In January 2017, Sedibe was involved in planning a political demonstration which he described on Facebook as "a land occupation programme which will take place between White River and Hillsview". He later explained that the EFF had planned to target unoccupied government-owned land, rather than to invade occupied properties. However, a week later, Sedibe was arrested again, immediately after he and another EFF legislator, Alfred Skhosana, were ejected from the legislature for disrupting Premier Mabuza's State of the Province address. A police spokesman said that he faced fraud charges.

Leader of the Opposition: 2019–present In the 2019 general election, the EFF displaced the Democratic Alliance as the ANC's official opposition in the provincial legislature; Sedibe was again ranked first on the party list and was re-elected to his legislative seat. On 17 September 2022, during a party elective conference in Mbombela, he was elected to a third term as EFF Provincial Chairperson in Mpumalanga, with Rhulani Qhibi as his new deputy; he defeated a challenge from Stan Hlatshwayo, earning over 400 votes to Hlatshwayo's 287.

Personal life As of 2012, Sedibe was a single father of two children.