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Comely Humphrey Maqocwa Maxegwana is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2014 until 2019, when he failed to gain re-election. Before that, he represented the ANC in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature. He was a prominent trade unionist in the Eastern Cape during apartheid and is also a former Provincial Secretary of the ANC's Eastern Cape branch.
Humphrey Maxegwana | |
|---|---|
| Chairperson of the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests | |
| In office 25 October 2018 – 7 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Amos Masondo |
| Succeeded by | Bekizwe Nkosi |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 21 May 2014 – 7 May 2019 | |
| Personal details | |
| Citizenship | South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
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After matriculating in 1974, Maxegwana was active in the South African Students' Movement and, from 1977, the Black People's Convention, both anti-apartheid organisations affiliated to the Black Consciousness movement.[1] In 1977, he was recruited to the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU); he was an underground operative for SACTU in East London and later worked closely with the South African Allied Workers' Union.[2][1] SACTU sent him abroad in 1985.[2]
After the end of apartheid, Maxegwana represented the ANC in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature.[1] He was Provincial Secretary of the ANC's Eastern Cape branch, serving under Provincial Chairperson Makhenkesi Stofile, from 1996 until 2006,[3][4] when he was replaced by Siphatho Handi.[5] He also served as Majority Party Chief Whip in the legislature until August 2013, when the ANC removed him in line with a party resolution that all Chief Whips should be selected from among members of the party's internal Provincial Executive Committees; he was replaced by Mzoleli Mrara.[6]
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In the 2014 general election, Maxegwana did not stand for re-election to the provincial legislature but instead was elected to a seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament; he was ranked tenth on the ANC's provincial-to-national party list for the Eastern Cape.[7] In May 2016, the ANC announced that he would additionally serve as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies, replacing Joyce Moloi-Moropa, who had resigned from Parliament.[8] He departed that position in late October 2018, when the ANC nominated him to replace Amos Masondo as co-chairperson of the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests.[9] In the 2019 general election, he was ranked 166th on the ANC's national party list and was not re-elected to his legislative seat.[7]
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In July 2020, Maxegwana was elected to succeed Alfred Mtsi as Speaker of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality council; he received 54 votes against the 22 votes received by the opposition candidate, the Democratic Alliance's Geoffrey Walton.[10][11] After the local elections of November 2021, IOL reported that Maxegwana was one of three leading contenders for the position of Mayor of Buffalo City.[12] He was not ultimately elected to the mayoral office but remained in office as Speaker.[1]
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