Nakedi Mathews Phosa

Dr Nakedi Mathews Phosa, the first Premier of Mpumalanga, serving during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1999, was also Treasurer-General of the ANC from 2007 to 2012. He holds BProc and LLB degrees from the University of the North and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Boston University in the United States in 1995. Having established the first black-owned law practice in Nelspruit in 1981, Phosa went into exile in 1985, undergoing political and military training and later serving as Regional Commander of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the then military wing of the ANC, in Mozambique. After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, Phosa was one of the first four ANC members to return to South Africa to begin the process of negotiations with the government of FW de Klerk. He went on to play an important role in the negotiations that shaped South Africa’s transition to constitutional democracy. Phosa speaks nine languages. His written works include the Afrikaans poetry collection Deur die oog van ’n naald, the English anthology Chants of Freedom, and a 2024 political memoir, Witness to Power: A Political Memoir.