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Lulu Johnson (politician)

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Lulu Johnson
Member of the National Assembly
In office
23 April 2004 – 7 May 2019
President of the African National Congress Youth League
In office
1994–1996
DeputyBheki Nkosi
Preceded byPeter Mokaba
Succeeded byMalusi Gigaba
Personal details
Born
Mlungisi Johnson

(1964-02-05) 5 February 1964 (age 60)
Keiskammahoek
Cape Province, South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress

Mlungisi "Lulu" Johnson (born 5 February 1964) is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2019. He served as President of the ANC Youth League from 1994 to 1996 and was the President of the Congress of South African Students during apartheid from 1983 to 1985. He also served on the ANC National Executive Committee from 1994 to 1997.

During his three terms in Parliament, Johnson chaired the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation. He left his seat after the 2019 general election, in which the ANC controversially declined to nominate him for re-election.

Early life and activism

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Johnson was born on 5 February 1964 in Keiskammahoek[1] and grew up in New Brighton outside Port Elizabeth in the former Cape Province.[2] His mother, Nofezile Miriam Johnson, died in 2020.[3]

Come of age at the height of apartheid, Johnson was active in the Young Christian Workers and the Congress of South African Students (COSAS).[2] He served as national president of COSAS from 1983 until the organisation was banned by the government in 1985.[4] He was subsequently detained by police during the 1986 state of emergency and was held without trial in the Eastern Cape until April 1989, when he was released after participating in a nationwide hunger strike by political prisoners.[5]

ANC Youth League president: 1994–1996

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In early 1994, shortly before South Africa's first post-apartheid elections, Johnson was elected as President of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). He succeeded Peter Mokaba, who was over the age of 35 and therefore ineligible to run for re-election.[6][7] Serving alongside Johnson were Bheki Nkosi as his deputy, Mpho Lekgoro as Secretary-General with Febe Potgieter as deputy, and Nash Jacobs as Treasurer-General.[7] Although Johnson's ANCYL presidency entitled him to ex officio membership of the ANC National Executive Committee, he was also elected to a three-year term on the committee by delegates to the party's 49th National Conference in December 1994.[8][9]

In the Mail & Guardian's phrase, Johnson "seemed to preside over a decline in the league's power".[10] Although the ANCYL maintained its traditional populist stance – including by supporting the increasingly beleaguered Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – it was weakened by factional disputes[11] and its membership declined to about 150,000 active members by 1996.[12] Johnson served only one term as ANCYL President: at the league's next national elective conference in March 1996, he did not stand for re-election and was succeeded by Malusi Gigaba.[13]

Parliament: 2004–2019

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After leaving the ANCYL, Johnson worked at FBC Fidelity Investment Bank.[2] In the 2004 general election, he was elected to an ANC seat in the National Assembly, representing the Eastern Cape constituency.[14] He ultimately served three terms in the National Assembly, gaining re-election in 2009 and 2014 on the ANC's national list.[15][16]

His bid to gain election to the ANC National Executive Committee in 2007 was unsuccessful,[17] but the ANC nominated him to chair the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries during his second term from 2009 to 2014.[16][18] Nonetheless, in 2011, the Mail & Guardian observed that he had been "cast out into political obscurity, if not oblivion".[10]

During his third term in Parliament, from 2014 to 2019, Johnson chaired the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation.[16] Ahead of the 2019 general election, the ANC did not list him for election to any legislative position, leading to complaints from the ANC Youth League.[19] However, Johnson was serene about leaving Parliament:

These things happen to the best of us. There is no guaranteed position at the ANC except for the president. The emotions at some point were there but they went away. You have to live as a human being. I have a mother that I must look after. I have five children that I must bring back together. I am out.[19]

In 2022, ahead of the ANC's 55th National Conference, Johnson was not nominated to stand for the ANC National Executive Committee and became one of 16 complainants who signed a letter objecting to the party's internal nominations process. He later distanced himself from the letter.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Mlungisi "Lulu" Johnson". Red Location Museum. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Mr Mlungisi Johnson". Brand South Africa. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Lulu Johnson's mother to be buried on Friday". Herald. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Top parliamentarian to address youth in Bay". News24. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  5. ^ "The hunger strike has ended". The Mail & Guardian. 21 April 1989. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  6. ^ "'Premier league' of ANC leans on youth". The Mail & Guardian. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Mokaba comes of age" (PDF). Mayibuye. 5 (1): 7. 1994. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Populism over Indian option". The Mail & Guardian. 23 December 1994. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  9. ^ "49th National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected at Conference". African National Congress. 20 December 1994. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  10. ^ a b "ANC's young lions: Courting controversy". The Mail & Guardian. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Winnie Now for a purge of the populists". The Mail & Guardian. 3 March 1995. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  12. ^ "The ANC loses its young lions..." The Mail & Guardian. 1 March 1996. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Down colourful memory lane". Sowetan. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  14. ^ "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Members of the National Assembly". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  16. ^ a b c "Lulu Johnson". People's Assembly. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  17. ^ "ANC releases consolidated nominations list". The Mail & Guardian. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Appointment of Committee Chairpersons". ANC Parliamentary Caucus. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  19. ^ a b Tandwa, Lizeka (22 March 2019). "ANCYL angered by exclusion of former president Lulu Johnson on party lists". News24. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  20. ^ Makhafola, Getrude (7 December 2022). "ANC electoral committee dismisses NEC nomination complaints as 'baseless'". The Citizen. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
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