📼 Nathi Nhleko South Africa footballer Goals and Skills Videos and History

is a South African politician and former trade unionist from KwaZulu-Natal. He was the Minister of Police and Minister of Public Works in the second cabinet of President Jacob Zuma. In March 2024, he resigned from the African National Congress (ANC) and became the national organiser for Zuma's Umkhonto we Sizwe Party.

Raised in Empangeni, Nhleko rose to prominence as the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1989 to 1993. He was elected to the first post-apartheid Parliament in May 1994 and represented the ANC in the National Assembly until September 2005. During that time, he served as Chief Whip of the Majority Party from 2002 to 2004. From 2005 to 2014, he took a hiatus from legislative politics to work in business and public administration, including as correctional services commissioner in Kwa-Zulu-Natal and as director-general in the Department of Labour.

In May 2014, Nhleko returned to national government as Minister of Police, an office he held until March 2017. During this period, he made several controversial decisions, including recommending that Zuma should be absolved of personal liability in Nkandlagate. After a cabinet reshuffle, he served as Minister of Public Works from March 2017 until February 2018, when he was sacked by Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa. Thereafter he served as a backbencher in the National Assembly until the 2019 general election.