Nomvula Mokonyane whose full name is Nomvula Paula Mokonyane was born on 28th June 1963 in Kagiso, South Africa.
She is a South African politician, former Premier of Gauteng Province and the Minister of Communications since 2018. She previously served as Minister in the Department of Water and Sanitation of South Africa from May 25, 2014 to January 2018.
She was born on 28th June 1963 in Kagiso, South Africa. She is 55 years old as of 2018.
She is married to Serge Mokonyane.
Nomvula Mokonyane matriculated at Masupatsela High School, Kagiso.
She Received training in Local Government, Planning Management, and Community Development in Sweden.
She Completed a Certificate Course in Emerging Economics from Wharton Business School at Pensylvania University.
She has a Certificate in Economics and Finance from Harvard Business School and a leadership and governance certificate.
She also has a Certificate in Project Planning.
Her political career began in the early 1980s as a student activist.She was a founder member of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and a member of the Young Christian Students (YCS).
She was the publicity secretary of the Krugersdorp branch of the United Democratic Front and an organiser of the Federation of Transvaal Women (Fedtaw), an organisation that supported the families of detainees and the youth in their fight for democratic student representative councils.
In 1990 after the unbanning of political organisations she was involved in the re- establishment of the ANC and SACP structures.
As from 1994 she served in the Gauteng Legislature in various portfolio committees before she was appointed MEC of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment in 1996.
In 1999 she became the MEC for Safety and Liason until 2004 when she was appointed Housing MEC a position she held until 2009.
She is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress elected at the 52nd national conference in 2007 in Polokwane.
On May 6, 2009 she was sworn in as Premier of Gauteng becoming the first female premier.
On May 25, 2014 she was appointed Minister of Water Affairs and Sanitation, a new Ministry created to combat water issues and serious sanitation problems across the country.
On November 22, 2018 she was appointed minister of Environmental Affairs, a Ministry that was previously held by the late Edna Molwena.
1999- 2004: Member of the Gauteng Executive Council for Safety and Liaison.
Documents show former water minister Nomvula Mokonyane’s hidden hand in the direct appointment of LTE Consulting Engineers to deliver the controversial R2.7bn Giyani water project in Limpopo.
City Press can now confirm that although LTE was appointed without a public tender by Lepelle Northern Water, the appointment was made at the insistence of Mokonyane’s then water and sanitation department.
This information is contained in two affidavits by the water utility’s chief executive Phineas Legodi and planning manager Carel Schmahl, which were deposed to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) last year.
After a City Press investigation into the deal, former president Jacob Zuma issued a proclamation in 2016, giving the SIU the task of investigating how LTE, a small firm of consulting engineers, received multibillion-rand tenders from Lepelle, as well as Gauteng’s department of human settlements, of which Mokonyane was MEC at the time it scored another lucrative contract.
About six months before netting the Giyani contract, LTE secured a R200m water and sewer reticulation contract it hadn’t tendered for in Sweetwaters, south of Johannesburg.
However, he did not say who exactly recommended LTE.
Schmahl also alleged that LTE attended a steering committee meeting established to find solutions to Giyani’s water crisis at the department’s invitation. The meeting took place on August 15 2014, a day after Mokonyane held an imbizo in Giyani at which she announced she was appointing Lepelle Northern Water to implement the project on an emergency basis, which would allow them to deviate from procurement policies.
In his affidavit Legodi confirms this.
Three senior civil servants in the department told City Press that LTE boss Thulani Majola also attended Mokonyane’s Giyani imbizo and “it was a foregone conclusion” the job was his.
“One could call it a recommendation, but it is not like Nomvula recommended LTE to Lepelle.
“They simply had no choice; she shoved LTE down Lepelle’s throat,” said one.
– Evidence is being considered for possible disciplinary cases against department officials and possible criminal referrals against those who contravened the Public Finance Management Act.
The documents say the SIU will complete its investigation into the Giyani water project at the end of the month and forward a report to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The SIU declined to comment.
However, the document is silent on the role Mokonyane played in Lepelle’s appointment of LTE, the company’s R200m Sweetwaters tender and the circumstances in which it bagged both projects. Mokonyane, now communications minister, referred all queries to the water and sanitation department and Lepelle.
Majola’s lawyer Victor Nkhwashu said: “Our instructions are that our client is an interested party in the said investigation by the SIU.
Meanwhile, a war is brewing between Legodi and the SIU. Legodi is challenging the unit’s preliminary findings and threatened them with legal action.
In a letter through his lawyers, Legodi argues it was irrational for the SIU to suggest he irregularly awarded the tender to LTE when he gave them documents proving that Mokonyane directed him to do so on an emergency basis.
Legodi also refused to comment.
Another department official, who has seen the SIU’s documents, said: “It really looks like the SIU is using the low-hanging fruit as scapegoats.