Ismail Vadi
Member of the Gauteng Executive Council for Transport
In office
May 2014 – May 2019
PremierDavid Makhura
Preceded byHimself (for Roads and Transport)
Succeeded byJacob Mamabolo (for Public Transport and Road Infrastructure)
Member of the Gauteng Executive Council for Roads and Transport
In office
November 2010 – May 2014
PremierNomvula Mokonyane
Preceded byBheki Nkosi
Succeeded by
  • Himself (for Transport)
Personal details
Born1960 (1960) (age 64)
Kliptown, Transvaal
Union of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Alma materWits University

Ismail Vadi (born 1960) is a South African politician who was Gauteng's Member of the Executive Council for Transport from 2010 to 2019. Before that, from 1994 to 2010, he represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly.

Early life and activism

Vadi was born in 1960 in Kliptown outside Johannesburg in the former Transvaal, now part of Gauteng province.[1] His family was forcibly removed to Lenasia, a township in the Transvaal designated for Indians under the apartheid system.[2] He matriculated in 1976 at Trinity Secondary School in Lenasia and enrolled at Wits University, where he studied for a Master of Arts degree in history. He taught history and english in Lenasia from 1982 to 1991 and then worked at Wits as an education lecturer for three years.[1] During the same period, he was active in the anti-apartheid struggle through the Transvaal Indian Congress and the United Democratic Front;[2] he was also national vice president of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union from 1990 to 1994.[1]

Political career

In South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Vadi was elected to a seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new Parliament of South Africa.[2][3] In 2010, his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), "redeployed" him from Parliament to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature;[3] and on 2 November 2010, Nomvula Mokonyane, then the Premier of Gauteng, appointed him to the Gauteng Executive Council as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Roads and Transport.[4][5] In the 2014 general election, he was re-elected to his legislative seat, ranked 14th on the ANC's provincial party list,[6] and on 23 May he was reappointed to the Executive Council of Mokonyane's successor, David Makhura, as MEC for Transport.[7]

He remained MEC for Transport until the 2019 general election, when he was ranked 42nd on the ANC's party list and lost his seat in the provincial legislature.[6] Vadi subsequently retired from frontline politics and joined the University of Johannesburg as a research associate.[3] He published his memoirs as The Political Backbencher in 2021.[2][3]

Personal life

Vadi is Sufi Muslim.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ismail Vadi". South African History Online. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Vahed, Goolam (9 December 2021). "Book Review: Ismail Vadi's The Political Backbencher". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Dawood, Zainul (28 September 2021). "Retired politician launches his book – The Political Backbencher". IOL. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "Premier Nomvula Mokonyane announces new Gauteng Cabinet". South African Government. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "Much arm twisting over Gauteng cabinet". The Mail & Guardian. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Ismail Vadi". People's Assembly. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  7. ↑ "Media release on the appointment of the members of the Executive Council of the Gauteng Provincial Government by Premier David Makhura". South African Government. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
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