Blade Nzimande Biography
Blade Nzimande whose full name is Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande was born on 14th April 1958 in Edendale, KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. He is a South African politician and the Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology. His previous posts as a minister are Minister for Higher Education and Training from 2009 to 2017 and Minister of Transport from 2018 to 2019. He is also the General Secretatry of the South African Communist Party a position e has held since 1998.
Blade Nzimande Age
Bonginkosi Emmanuel “Blade” Nzimande was born on 14 April 1958 in Edendale. He is 61 years old.
Blade Nzimande Net Worth
Deputy ministers in South Africa receive an estimated annual salary of R1,977,795. Blade being the deputy minister he earns close to that. He is known to have luxury cars and lives in a large home in Johannesburg. His networth, however, is not known but he is considered a wealthy man in South Africa.
Blade Nzimande Wife
Blade’s wife is Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande, former SABC group executive. She was axed in a restructuring strategy aimed at cutting costs. Ntombela-Nzimande, who was among the top earners at the SABC, was told of the decision to make her position redundant during the public broadcaster’s strategy. She walked away with a retrenchment package of about R1,8-million, which covers 14 months left on her contract, plus benefits.
Blade Nzimande & Jacob Zuma
Nzimande and Zuma were on good terms until when he started opposing Zuma’s ideologies and way of governing South Africa. President Jacob Zuma then booted him out of his cabinet as the minister for higher education and training and replaced him with Hlengiwe Mkhize in 2017.
Blade Nzimande Family
Nzimande was born to Phillip Sphambano a herbalist and Nozipho Alice. He was raised together with two of his other siblings in South Africa.
Blade Nzimande SACP
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa founded in 1921. Its first Deputy General Secretary was Solly Afrika Mapaila. Blade Nzimande became SA Communist Party (SACP) boss in 1998. SACP members werer accused of corrupt dealings in August 2019. The party has been working closely with ANC, the ruling party since the 1950s during their struggle for independence.
Senior SACP leaders, including Nzimande and Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, have been accused of corrupt dealings, with reports recently claiming there was an investigation into the allegations by the Public Protector.
“Communists must indeed serve in this government. We fought to bring this government about. It’s not an enemy government, it’s our own government,” Nzimande said.
Blade Nzimande Qualifications
Dr Nzimande holds a Doctorate in Philosophy specialising in Sociology from the University of Natal.
Blade Nzimande Education
Nzimande attended the Roman Catholic School, Henryville, and then Plessiers Lower Primary School before going to Mthethomusha School in Edendale. In 1975 he joined Georgetown High, Edendale as a member. He completed a Psychology Honours degree at the University of Natal in 1980, a master’s degree in Industrial Psychology in 1981, and a PhD from the same university for a thesis titled “The corporate guerrillas: class formation and the African corporate petty bourgeoisie in post-1973 South Africa,” in the field of Sociology.
In 1976 Blade enrolled at the University of Zululand to study for a BA degree in Public Administration and Psychology. Nzimande returned to university in 1977 and completed his degree in 1979
Dr. Blade Nzimande Politics
In 1988 he joined the South African Communist Party (SACP). In July 1998 he became the General Secretary of the SACP. He joined the Azanian Students’ Organisation (Azaso) which eventually broke away from the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), aligning itself with the Congress or Charteris tendency.
The shift from BCM to the Chartersist position was facilitated by weekly Zulu broadcasts from Radio Freedom and Radio Moscow. In this way, he and his colleagues became acquainted with the policy of the African National Congress (ANC) and they started to receive underground ANC documents.
Blade Nzimande Teaching
He lectured at the University of Natal, Durban to lecture in the Psychology Department. There he became involved in the Culture and Working Life Project and initiated the cultural activities of the Dumbuzo Cultural Organisation which produced a play on violence, Koze Kube Nini
Membership
- Member of the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee.
- Member of the ANC National Working Committee
- Chairperson of the Financial Sector Coalition Campaign (FSCC).
Blade Nzimande Publication
Children of Wars: The impact of violence on schooling in Natal.
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Blade Nzimande
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