Themba Mthembu

Richard Themba Mthembu (born 1958) is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 2009 until 2024. He was formerly KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council for Agriculture and Rural Development from June 2016 to May 2019. He has also served as Provincial Secretary of the South African Communist Party in KwaZulu-Natal since 2002.

Early life and career Mthembu was born in 1958 in Inanda in present-day KwaZulu-Natal (then Natal province). His mother was a domestic worker and his father was a dock worker. He went to school in KwaMashu and then qualified as a chemical engineering technician at the Mangosuthu University of Technology; while a student, he was active in anti-apartheid youth politics. He became active in the trade union movement through the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union, which he joined while working in the private sector as an engineering technician. He left his private-sector job to take up the seat, which he held in parallel with his SACP office. Over the next two years, he was highly critical of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC, particularly in connection with an ongoing campaign to unseat Senzo Mchunu as Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.

Executive Council: 2016–2019 When Mchunu was finally removed as Premier in May 2016, he was replaced by Willies Mchunu, who, shortly after taking office, announced a cabinet reshuffle in which Mthembu was appointed to the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Agriculture and Rural Development. Although Mthembu's appointment was viewed as an attempt to appease the SACP, Mthembu asked to be given 24 hours to consider the promotion,

While Mthembu was serving as MEC, his ongoing support for Jacob Zuma, the incumbent President of South Africa, became a source of political tension, especially as the SACP grew increasingly critical of Zuma. In May 2018, Mthembu caused controversy by inviting Zuma to be his special guest during his budget vote speech in the provincial legislature; opposition legislators staged a walkout in protest of Zuma's presence. Mthembu's closeness with Zuma reportedly strained his relationship with Blade Nzimande, the incumbent national General Secretary of the SACP and formerly a key ally of Mthembu's; Nzimande had been fired from Zuma's cabinet in late 2017. It was also reported that Mthembu was likely to face a serious challenge to his incumbency as SACP Provincial Secretary.

Presiding officer: 2019–present In the 2019 general election, Mthembu was re-elected to his seat in the provincial legislature, ranked 38th on the ANC's party list. Instead, he was elected Chairperson of Committees in the legislature. Ahead of the SACP's next provincial elective conference in May 2022, Mthembu's re-election bid was not expected to face any significant opposition.