Mxolisi Dukwana

Mxolisi Abraham Dukwana (born 14 September 1964) is a South African politician who has served as the speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature since June 2024. He was elected Provincial Chairperson of the Free State branch of his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), in January 2023. He was the seventh Premier of the Free State from February 2023 until June 2024. Prior to his election as Premier, he served in the Free State Executive Council as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs since October 2021.

A teacher by training, Dukwana entered provincial government as MEC for Education from 1996 to 1998. Between 1998 and 2008, he held several positions in the Free State Provincial Legislature, where he was Majority Chief Whip, Deputy Speaker, and Speaker. Over the same period he rose through the provincial ANC, ultimately serving as Provincial Treasurer of the ANC in the Free State from 2005 to 2012. In 2008, he was returned to the Executive Council by Premier Beatrice Marshoff, under whom he served as MEC for Public Safety and Security in 2008 and MEC for Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs from 2008 to 2009. He was retained in the latter portfolio by Marshoff's successor, Ace Magashule.

In February 2012, however, Magashule fired Dukwana; later the same year, Dukwana attempted unsuccessfully to unseat Magashule as ANC Provincial Chairperson. He subsequently retreated from frontline politics until May 2021, when he was appointed the interim convenor of the ANC's Free State branch. In September of that year, he was sworn back into the Free State Provincial Legislature, and, in early October, Premier Sisi Ntombela appointed him as MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In January 2023, Dukwana narrowly beat Ntombela to be elected ANC Provincial Chairperson, and he replaced her as Premier the following month.

Early life and career Dukwana was born on 14 September 1964 in Odendaalsrus in the former Orange Free State (present-day Free State Province). He trained as a teacher in Kroonstad and taught at a secondary school in Odendaalsrus from 1986 to 1993. In the same period, he was active in the South African Youth Congress, an anti-apartheid organisation. Three months later, in another cabinet reshuffle in October, Marshoff moved him to the Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs portfolio of the Executive Council. In February 2009, he additionally became acting MEC for Education, after the incumbent, Casca Mokitlane, resigned in order to defect from the ANC to the Congress of the People.

Magashule premiership: 2009–2018

Dismissal Pursuant to the general election in May 2009, Ace Magashule succeeded Marshoff as Premier of the Free State. Dukwana was retained as MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in Magashule's new Executive Council. At this time, Dukwana was viewed as a close political ally of Magashule and as Magashule's possible successor. However, their relationship had deteriorated by 2012: in February of that year, Magashule fired Dukwana from the Executive Council. The opposition Democratic Alliance alleged that Magashule had made the move because he viewed Dukwana as a political threat, rather than because of his performance as an MEC.

Bid for ANC chair Dukwana's removal from the Executive Council coincided with his final months in his party office as ANC Provincial Treasurer. Instead of seeking re-election to that office, he launched a campaign to oust Magashule from the party chairmanship. By April 2012, the Mail & Guardian identified him as the centre of a provincial ANC faction known as the "Regime Change Group", which lobbied for Dukwana's election as ANC Provincial Chairperson. Other members of the group reportedly included (at least initially) Sibongile Besani, who was the outgoing ANC Provincial Secretary, as well as leaders of the Free State's ANC Youth League.

In 2019, while testifying at the Zondo Commission, Dukwana made a number of accusations about Magashule's alleged involvement in state capture under President Zuma's administration. Among other things, he alleged that Magashule had accepted bribes from the controversial Gupta family; Dukwana said that Tony Gupta had personally told him about the bribes during a 2011 meeting, also attended by Magashule and Duduzane Zuma, at which Dukwana himself, then MEC for Economic Development, had been offered a bribe in exchange for approving a multimillion-rand Gupta-linked contract. Magashule denied Dukwana's allegations, Dukwana said that he believed that Magashule had sacked him as an MEC in 2012 due to his refusal to cooperate with the Guptas' proposal, as well as because he intended to challenge Magashule for the ANC chairmanship.

Return as MEC On 28 September 2021, Dukwana was sworn in again as a Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature; News24 reported that he was expected to be in line for appointment as an MEC under Premier Ntombela.

Election to ANC chair In the Free State ANC, Magashule was succeeded as Provincial Chairperson by his ally Sam Mashinini. However, in May 2021, the ANC's National Executive Committee – by then under the leadership of Zuma's successor, Cyril Ramaphosa – disbanded Mashinini's provincial leadership corps and appointed an interim task team to take its place until fresh leadership elections could be held. Dukwana was appointed to lead the provincial party as convenor of the interim committee. In his new position, Dukwana faced hostile opposition from pro-Zuma and pro-Magashule groups in the provincial party.

By mid-2022, Dukwana, along with Thabo Manyoni, was viewed as a frontrunner for election as ANC Provincial Chairperson at the next party conference. At the ANC's provincial elective conference held in January 2023 at the Imvelo Safari Lodge in Bloemfontein, he was the only candidate to have received enough nominations from the 242 qualified branches in the province to contest the position. Manyoni, who was expected to also contest the position, withdrew in favour of premier Sisi Ntombela after last-minute negotiations resulted in an agreement that Ntombela was best suited to defeat Dukwana. Dukwana ended up defeating Ntombela in a vote that went 346 votes for Dukwana and 306 for Ntombela. Candidates on Dukwana's slate also made a clean sweep of the Top 5 leadership positions contested at the conference.

Premier of the Free State: 2023–2024 On 5 February 2023, the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) took the decision to recall Ntombela, who was not re-elected to the PEC, as premier of the Free State. The PEC then sent the names of three party members, including Dukwana, to the party's national structures to select a successor. On 21 February, Ntombela announced her resignation as ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula announced that the party's "Top 7" leadership officials had selected Dukwana to take over as premier. He was elected premier on 24 February. After the 2024 general election, he was succeeded as premier by Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae.

Speaker of the Legislature On 27 June 2024, Dukwana was elected as the speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature.