Zola Saphetha

Zola Saphetha is a South African trade unionist. He was elected general secretary of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (NEHAWU) in 2017.

Career Born in the Eastern Cape, Saphetha joined the Congress of South African Students while at school and rose to become its provincial chair. He studied at the Port Elizabeth Technikon, where he became regional chair of the South African Students Congress, then president of the SRC, and general secretary of the South African Technikon Student Union. While active in the student movement, he helped establish the South African Union of Students. In 1990, Saphetha was elected as the African National Congress's (ANC) political commissar for Pankie Dobo, and he served on the party's regional executive for Port Elizabeth. In 2019, he was additionally elected as general secretary of the Trade Union International of Public Services and Allied Employees.

Personal life He is married to ANC politician Ntombikayise Sibhidla-Saphetha with two children.