Trevor Manuel
Minister of Finance
In office 1996–2009
Preceded by	Chris Liebenberg
Succeeded by	Pravin Gordhan
Head of National Planning Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
Personal details
Born	Trevor Andrew Manuel (1956-01-31) 31 January 1956 (age 56) Kensington, Cape Town, South Africa
Political party	African National Congress
Spouse(s)	Maria Ramos

Trevor Andrew Manuel (born 31 January 1956) is a South African politician, currently serving in the Cabinet of South Africa as Minister in the Presidency in charge of the National Planning Commission. Previously he was the Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2009, during the presidencies of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe; he was one of the country's longest-serving finance ministers.^[1] In May 2009, he was re-assigned to head up a National Planning Commission by President Jacob Zuma shortly after the latter's inauguration.

Early life[link]

Trevor Manuel was born in Kensington (Cape Town), during the apartheid era and classified as a Cape Coloured. His mother, Philma van Söhnen, was a garment factory worker, and his father, Abraham James Manuel, was a draughtsman.^[2][3] According to Manuel's "family legend", his great-grandfather was a Portuguese immigrant; He had married an indigenous woman.^[4] He grew up and was educated in the city. He matriculated in 1973 and studied Civil and Structural Engineering, and later, during his detention, law.^{[citation needed]}

Public life[link]

Manuel entered public life in 1981 as the General Secretary of the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee, after which he became a National Executive member of the United Democratic Front (UDF). In September 1985 Manuel was detained and then banned until 31 August 1990. However, Manuel's ban was lifted on 25 March 1986 after it was ruled that it was not in line with the provisions of the Internal Security Act. On 15 August 1986 Manuel was again detained under the emergency regulations for almost two years until July 1988. He was released from detention under severe restrictions but promptly detained again in September 1988, this time until February 1989. His release came with stringent restriction orders.

Post-apartheid[link]

After the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), Manuel was appointed as deputy co-ordinator in the Western Cape Province. At the ANC's first regional conference in 1990 Manuel was elected publicity secretary. At the ANC's 1991 national conference Manuel was elected to the National Executive Committee. In 1992 Manuel became head of the ANC's Department of Economic Planning. Manuel was elected as an ANC Member of Parliament in 1994 and was appointed by President Nelson Mandela as Minister of Trade and Industry; two years later, in 1996, he was moved to the post of Minister of Finance.

The World Economic Forum selected Manuel as a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" in 1994, and he has received numerous international awards and recognition for his accomplishments. He is regarded highly by a broad section of the South African public and is widely viewed as one of the most competent South African ministers.^[who?]

South Africa reported its first budget surplus in 2007. A combination of increased prosperity, high commodity prices and a wider tax base were credited with the surge of revenue. Manuel increased spending for education, housing and sanitation.

In the 2002 election to the ANC's National Executive Committee, Manuel placed first. At the ANC conference in Polokwane in December 2007, he was again elected to the National Executive Committee, this time in 57th place with 1,590 votes.^[5] In April 2008 Manuel was announced chancellor of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

In September 2008, the IMF commissioned a "Committee on IMF Governance Reform", to be chaired by Manuel. This report was submitted in March 2009.^[6]

Resignation and re-appointment[link]

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (January 28, 2009. Davos)

On 23 September 2008, Trevor Manuel resigned as Finance Minister along with a number of other cabinet members after the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki, unsettling the financial market, but it was subsequently announced that he would be willing to continue to serve under the next president. Manuel explained the resignation as a principled gesture, and he expressed surprise at the market's reaction.^[7] He was retained in his post in the cabinet of Mbeki's successor, Kgalema Motlanthe, which was announced on 25 September.^[8]

Public spat with Jimmy Manyi[link]

On 2 March 2011, Manuel published an open letter to Jimmy Manyi,^[9] the spokesperson for the South African government, in which he accused him of racism and compared him to Hendrik Verwoerd. This letter was precipitated by the remarks that Manyi made about a change in the labour laws he had proposed in his previous position of Director-General of Labour. These changes affect the racial quota that employers in South Africa are to apply to their work force. Previously they needed to reflect the ethnic composition of the local community; this would now be changed to the composition of the country as a whole. Such a change would have severe consequences for the Coloured community of the Western Cape as well as for the Indian community of KwaZulu-Natal. For the former only 10% of jobs would be available in regions where they form a 60% majority. Manyi claimed that there was a "surplus" of Coloureds in the West-Cape and that this 'problem' should be solved by making the members of this community spread over other provinces—a solution similar to that of relocation under apartheid.

Manuel's sharp reaction to Manyi's remarks provoked an equally sharp response from Paul Ngobeni, a prominent backer of Jacob Zuma and John Hlophe.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Trevor Manuel married Maria Ramos on 27 December 2008.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trevor Manuel

Thabo Makgoba
Archbishop of Cape Town, Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Makgoba at the 2012 World Economic Forum on Africa
Church	Anglican
See	Cape Town
In Office	2007 – present
Predecessor	Njongonkulu Ndungane
Successor	incumbent
Orders
Ordination	1990
Consecration	2002
Personal details
Born	1960 Johannesburg
Previous post	Bishop of Grahamstown Bishop

Anglicanism portal

Thabo Cecil Makgoba (born 15 December 1960^[1]) is the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. He had served in the past as Bishop of Grahamstown.

Biography[link]

He graduated from Orlando High, Soweto, and took a BSc at Wits before going to St Paul's College in Grahamstown to study for the Anglican ministry. He married the daughter of Cecil Manona, Lungelwa Manona. Since then he has obtained a Masters in Educational Psychology at Wits, where he also lectured part-time from 1993 to 1996.^[1] He was made Bishop of Queenstown (Suffragan Bishop of Grahamstown) on 25 May 2002, and became Bishop of Grahamstown in 2004. Until he moved to the Diocese of Grahamstown as Bishop Suffragan, Makgoba's ministry had been spent in the Diocese of Johannesburg, first as a curate at the Cathedral, and then as Wits chaplain. After that he was put in charge of St Alban's Church and later of Christ the King, Sophiatown. He became Archdeacon of Sophiatown in 1999. He became Archbishop of Cape Town on 31 December 2007, the youngest person ever to be elected to this position.^[2]

He received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the General Theological Seminary in 2009.^[2] He is currently the Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape.(2012)

He also graduated with a PhD from the University of Cape Town in December 2009. {Thesis on:Workplace Spirituality}

Views[link]

He believes that ‘We must each ask, “Who is my neighbour?” and then treat every individual and our whole global community in ways that uphold the sanctity of life, the dignity of humanity in all our differences, and the integrity of creation. These are our touchstones as we follow God’s call for social justice here and now.’^[3]

Makgoba subscrives to the orthodox Anglican stance on homosexuality, but admits that he is open to discussions on the matter. The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, after a Synod held in Cape Town, on 20-22 August 2009, passed a resolution calling the Anglican Church in Southern Africa bishops to give pastoral guidelines for homosexual couples living in "covenanted partnerships". At the same time, it was approved an amendment for the resolution which provided that the guidelines "due regard of the mind of the Anglican Communion." Makgoba stated that the resolution was "an important first step to saying: 'Lord, how do we do ministry in this context?' I'm a developmental person. I don't believe in big bangs. If you throw a little pebble into water, it sends out concentric circles and hopefully that way change comes from that." He also said that "South Africa has laws that approve a civil union in this context, but not in the other countries within our province. In central Africa and north Africa, both the Anglican Church and the state say 'no'" and "The reason for this resolution was because we have these parishioners, and the law provides for them to be in that state, so how do we pastorally respond to that?"^[4]

Political statements[link]

Like his predecessors, he has used his position to make political statements about current affairs. In October 2009, he supported Bishop Rubin Phillip's condemnation of the violence at Kennedy Road informal settlement in which a local militia "acted with the support of the local ANC structures".^[5]

References[link]

View his blog at [1]