John Ncinane

Increase Zandisile "John" Ncinane (5 April 1949 – January 2018) was a South African politician and sports administrator from the Eastern Cape. He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2004.

Ncinane was co-president of Athletics South Africa from 1992 to 1995 and was also an executive member of the South African Rugby Football Union. He was reprimanded for abusing parliamentary travel vouchers in 2000 and was convicted of a similar offence in the Travelgate scandal in 2005.

Early life and career Ncinane was born on 5 April 1949 and was from Keiskammahoek in the former Cape Province. According to IOL, during apartheid he was a dipping tank supervisor in the government of the Ciskei bantustan and was active in the Ciskei Agricultural Union.

He was later a prominent sports administrator. In 1992, he became the inaugural co-president, with Deon van Zyl, of Athletics South Africa, and he represented the South African Amateur Athletics Congress at the multi-party negotiations to end apartheid.

Parliament: 1994–2004 In the 1994 general election, South Africa's first under universal suffrage, Ncinane was elected to represent the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament. He served two terms in his seat, gaining re-election in 1999, and represented the Eastern Cape constituency.

He also remained active in sports administration: he remained co-president of the ASA until 1995, when he ran unsuccessfully for re-election. From then, he deputised the successful candidate, Leonard Chuene, until the next internal elections in 1997, when he lost his re-election bid and instead became an ordinary board member. He also served as president of Border Athletics and was an executive member of the South African Rugby Football Union from 1995 to 2001.

Travel voucher fraud: 2000 In 2000, Ncinane was investigated by a parliamentary disciplinary committee, headed by Deputy Speaker Baleka Mbete, following media reports that he had abused the travel vouchers provided to MPs for work-related air travel. The committee found that, between May and August 2000, Ncinane had on several occasions claimed full compensation from Parliament while in fact travelling on discounted vouchers intended for the use of his minor children.

Border Rugby: 2001 At the same time, early in 2001, Ncinane had successfully contested the presidency of the Border Rugby Football Union, beating senior ANC MP Mluleki George. In October, he resigned as president of the union, but said that his decision "had nothing to do with the fraud charges". The criminal charges were withdrawn in January 2002.

In September 2003, the press photographed Ncinane napping in a parliamentary session attended by Deputy President Jacob Zuma, fuelling a debate among MPs about whether Parliament should regulate press coverage of parliamentary proceedings.

Personal life and death After he left Parliament, Ncinane lost both of his legs to amputation due to diabetes complications and used a wheelchair. He died in early January 2018 at his home in Keiskammahoek after a long diabetes-related illness. He was married and had children.