Mxolisi Dukwana was appointed as the Premier of the Free State on 24 February 2023.
Honourable Mxolisi Dukwana is currently elected as the Premier of the Free State Province. He was born in Odendaalsrus in the Free State Province. After completing his teacher’s training course at Mphohadi College in Kroonstad, he taught at Rearabetswe Secondary School at Kutlwanong, in Odendaalsrus from 1986 to 1993.
He played a leading role in the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) activities in the 1980s. In 1994, the first year of the new democratic dispensation, he assumed the role of Commissioner for the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP).
In 1996 he was appointed MEC for Education, a post he held until 1998. This was followed by a year as the African National Congress (ANC) Chief Whip of the majority party represented in the Free State Legislature.
From 1999 until 2001, Hon. Dukwana became the Deputy Speaker of the Free State Legislature serving in various committees in both the Legislature and the ANC. In 2001 he was elected as the Speaker of the Free State Legislature. In January 2008, Hon. Dukwana was appointed as MEC for Community Safety and Transport. He was also a Board Member (Trustee) of the Political Office Bearers Pension Fund. In October 2008, Hon. Dukwana was appointed as MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs until February 2012.
Hon. Dukwana was elected as the ANC Provincial Treasurer in 2005. In 2008 he was re-elected as ANC Provincial Treasurer.
Comrade Mxolisi Dukwana is the newly-elected ANC Free State Provincial Chairperson elected at the ANC Free State 9th Provincial Conference held in January 2023.
Hon. Mxolisi Dukwana was elected as Free State Premier on the 24th of February 2023. This is a particularly complex and vexing portfolio, that demands a value-driven, purposive, ingenious, prescient and pragmatic leader because, the role and responsibility of the Premier is to coordinate all Portfolios under his watch.
He previously served as the ANC Free State IPC Convener after the NEC dissolved the previous PEC, to stabilize, unite and renew the Province.
He has played a pivotal role in providing valuable testimony at the State Capture Commission, popularly known as the Zondo Commission, to unravel the web of state capture in the Free State.
Source: Free State Provincial Government
