Kgalema Motlanthe

His Excellency Kgalema Motlanthe
Motlanthe in 2009
3rd President of South Africa
In office 25 September 2008 – 9 May 2009
Deputy	Baleka Mbete
Preceded by	Thabo Mbeki Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri (Acting)
Succeeded by	Jacob Zuma
6th Deputy President of South Africa
In office 9 May 2009 – 26 May 2014
President	Jacob Zuma
Preceded by	Baleka Mbete
Succeeded by	Cyril Ramaphosa
8th Deputy President of the African National Congress
In office 18 December 2007 – 18 December 2012
President	Jacob Zuma
Preceded by	Jacob Zuma
Succeeded by	Cyril Ramaphosa
14th Secretary-General of the African National Congress
In office 18 December 1997 – 18 December 2007
Preceded by	Cyril Ramaphosa
Succeeded by	Gwede Mantashe
Additional offices 1991-present Chairperson of the African National Congress Electoral Committee Incumbent Assumed office 15 February 2021 Preceded by Position established Minister in the Presidency In office July 2008 – September 2008 Serving with Essop Pahad President Thabo Mbeki Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Position ended Member of the National Assembly of South Africa In office May 2009 – May 2014 In office May 2008 – September 2008 2nd Secretary-General of the National Union of Mineworkers In office June 1991 – 1998 President James Motlatsi Preceded by Cyril Ramaphosa Succeeded by Gwede Mantashe
Personal details
Born	Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (1949-07-19) 19 July 1949 (age 74) Boksburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Citizenship	South African
Political party	African National Congress
Spouses	Mapula Mokate ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 2014)​ Gugu Mtshali ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	3
Occupation	Politician trade union leader military veteran anti-apartheid activist
Nicknames	Mkhuluwa the Wizard
Military service
Allegiance	Umkhonto We Sizwe
Years of service	1977–1987

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (Sotho pronunciation: [ˈkxɑ.le.mɑ mʊ.ˈtɬʼɑ.n.tʰɛ];^[1] born 19 July 1949) is a South African politician who served as the third president of South Africa from 25 September 2008 to 9 May 2009, following the resignation of Thabo Mbeki. Thereafter, he was deputy president under Jacob Zuma from 9 May 2009 to 26 May 2014.

Raised in Soweto in the former Transvaal after his family was forcibly removed from Alexandra, Motlanthe was recruited into UMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), after he finished high school. Between 1977 and 1987, he was imprisoned on Robben Island under the Terrorism Act for his anti-apartheid activism. Upon his release, he joined the influential National Union of Mineworkers, where he was general secretary between 1992 and early 1998. After the end of apartheid, he ascended from the trade union movement to the national leadership of the ruling ANC, serving as ANC secretary general from late 1997 to late 2007. He was elected ANC deputy president, on a slate aligned to Zuma, by the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference. In mid-2008, he was sworn in as a Member of Parliament and as Mbeki's second Minister in the Presidency – his first job in government.

Only weeks later, on 25 September 2008, Parliament elected him national president after Mbeki resigned at the ANC's request. Motlanthe was widely understood to be a compromise candidate and to be leading a caretaker administration until the 2009 national election. During his seven and a half months as president, he appeared to prioritise stability and continuity with the policies of the previous administration. However, on his first day in office, he replaced Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang with Barbara Hogan, effecting a break with Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policy, which had been criticised as ineffective and driven by denialism. He also made controversial changes at the National Prosecuting Authority, dismissing the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, and assenting to legislation which disbanded the Scorpions, an elite anti-corruption unit.

Zuma was elected president in May 2009, and Motlanthe was appointed his deputy. In December 2012, under pressure from Zuma's opponents, he contested the ANC presidential elections at the party's Mangaung conference. Zuma, the incumbent, won in a landslide. Motlanthe declined to seek re-election to the ANC National Executive Committee, and had already declined a nomination for re-election as ANC deputy president. Having thus vacated the party leadership, he resigned from government and from Parliament in May 2014, at the end of his term as national deputy president.

Variously and at various times perceived as an ally of each of the other living presidents – Mbeki, Zuma, and his trade union colleague Cyril Ramaphosa – Motlanthe was reputed to be "a highly skilled political operator" by the time he became president.^[2][3] However, he has always kept a low public and political profile. He is seen as holding broad respect in the ANC, and is frequently characterised as one of its preeminent "left-leaning intellectual[s]."^[2][4][5][6]