Gwede Mantashe| Biography, Age, Wife, Salary, Net Worth

Born on June 21, 1955, Gwede Mantashe is a politician from South Africa who holds the position of Secretary-General for the African National Congress. He began attending the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 1997 and graduated with honors in 2002 with a B.Comm. 2008 saw him graduate from the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) with a master's degree.

Gwede Mantashe Age

Gwede was born on the 21st of June 1955 in Cala, Eastern Cape in South Africa. This makes him 69 years old in 2024

Gwede Mantashe Career

He joined the migratory labour force in the mining industry and became a Recreation Officer at Western Deep Levels Mine, in 1975. He later moved to Prieska Copper Mines where he was Welfare Officer until 1982.

He became the NUM Regional Secretary when he was elected in 1985. He also became the NUM’s National Organizer from 1988 until 1993. He then became the Regional Coordinator between 1993 to 1994.

Gwede became the Assistant General Secretary of the NUM, from 1994 to 1998, when he was elected to become the first worker General Secretary at the union’s congress in 1998. He gave up his General Secretary position back in May 2006 during the union’s 12th National Congress.

He became the Secretary-General of the African National Congress through an election at the party’s 52nd national conference in 2007. Julius Malema wanted Mantashe to resign in February 2010 after Malema was booed during the SA Communist Party’s special conference in Polokwane. However, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) publicly backed Mantashe as mentioned in a statement by the secretary general. “Mantashe is being singled out and targeted because he is a communist,” Numsa general-secretary Irvan Jim said.

Also notable in his career line is:

He was the Secretary-General of the National Union of Mineworkers up until their 12th National Conference on May 2006.
His appointment in 1995 as part of the board of Directors of Samancor, which is a JSE Limited-listed company.
A two-year term as the Chairperson of the Technical Working Group of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa).
Chairperson of the South African Communist Party until July 2012.
He is the current member of the Politburo of the South African Communist Party.