Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe

Appointed deputy president in May 2009, Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe served as interim president after the resignation of former president Thabo Mbeki in September 2008. Prior to that he served briefly as a minister in the president’s office. Recruited to Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) in the early 1970s, Motlanthe spent ten years on Robben Island between 1977 and 1987 under the Terrorism Act. On his release, Motlanthe became active in the trade union movement and was appointed education officer for the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM). In this capacity, he was responsible for training shop stewards and subsequently played an instrumental role in a number of developmental initiatives for mineworkers. These included establishing the Mineworkers Development Agency, the Elijah Barayi Memorial Training Centre, the JB Marks Educational Trust and the Mineworkers Investment Company. He was elected secretary general of NUM in 1992. Regional chairman of the ANC in the former PWV from 1990 to 1992, Motlanthe was appointed general secretary in 1997: a position he held for ten years.