Obed Mlaba

Obed Thembinkosi Mlaba (born 9 September 1943) is the former High Commissioner of South Africa to the United Kingdom and served as mayor of Durban, one of the largest and most commercially active cities in South Africa.

Early life and career

Mlaba was born near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal to Japhet and Garlina Mlaba and was one of three children and the only boy. He went to Inchanga Primary School and then St Augustine where he obtained his matric. He holds BA in Administration and an MBA.

He grew up in the apartheid era and the events of that period heavily influenced his views and expectations. He developed keen political awareness and became a member of the African National Congress, ANC when it was unbanned in 1990.

Over the years he has also been involved in the retail and groceries sector and became an entrepreneur, building his own supermarket chain.

Throughout his career, he has sat on a number of boards; Thekwini Business Development Centre, South African Breweries, Osri Telecommunications and others. In 1994/95 he was chair of the Durban Metropolitan Council

He had a bias towards business and economic development and encouraged and lured investors to Durban and supported the development of local business and entrepreneurs. However, providing housing for the general population, proved to be a more difficult task for both the national and local governments. Social injustices of the many years of colonialism and apartheid will take quite a while and enormous resources to reverse. In Durban shanty towns continue to sprout and blight many landscapes and this has led to protest demonstrations and sometimes confrontation between the dwellers and local authorities.

As a public figure, he also attracted a lot of attention, allegations of corruption, rumours and criticism. The MEC of KZN instituted an investigation into the running of the council culminating in the Manase Report. No charges resulted against Mlaba from this investigation and he strongly defends his time in office as mayor.

The Sixth South African High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

In February 2014, Mlaba was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. One of his goals during his term of office as a diplomat is to improve and strengthen the relationship that exists between the two countries, politically and economically. With a strong bias towards business and industry, Mr Mlaba is determined to attract investment towards South Africa. He strongly believes that the two countries have much to offer each other and that the history that binds them should be exploited to their mutual benefit.

Personal life

Mlaba is married to Nomfundo Audrey, a former nurse and they have seven children and 11 grandchildren. He loves sport, particularly football.