CAMERON VAN DER BURGH

As a one of the top short distance swimmers in the world, specialising in 50m and 100m breaststroke events, Pretoria-born Cameron van der Burgh has had his name splashed across the sports headlines many times. He’s won titles at the World Championships, the Commonwealth Championships, and holds the world record title for 50m breaststroke short course and long course as well as the 100m breaststroke title. He has held double world cup titles but perhaps his proudest claim to fame is that he is South Africa’s first home-trained swimming celebrity and record holder.

Van der Burgh began his swimming career late by general champion standards. At the age of eleven, having done very little swimming, Van der Burgh took part in his first inter-house championship at school and won. Building on his natural talent for swimming he went on to represent the Northern Transvaal B team in 1998, and moved up to the A team the following year.

In 2000 he was selected for the South Africa team for the first time, and in 2007 the former Pretoria Crawford College student grabbed the attention of the international swimming community, at the age of 18, when he won his first major international medal – bronze in the World Championship in Melbourne, Australia in the 50m breaststroke.

In 2008, at the age of 20, Van der Burgh took part in his first Olympics and went on to became Africa’s youngest world record holder, breaking several world records in short succession. In Moscow in November 2008 the Northern Tigers swimmer beat Oleg Lisagor’s 50m breaststroke record of 26.17 seconds, clocking in at 26.08 seconds. The very next day Van der Burgh beat Ed Moses’ 2002 record of 57.47 seconds for the 100m breaststroke with a time of 56.88 seconds.

A few days later, in Stockholm, Van der Burgh clocked in under 26 seconds in the 50m breaststroke, becoming the first person the in the world to break the 26-second barrier with a time of 25.94 seconds. His stellar performance won him the award for Best Male Swimmer Overall in the FINA-Arena World Cup (short course).

He also won a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and a bronze in the 50m breaststroke at the World Championships in Manchester in the UK in 2008.

Driven to perfect his natural swimming talent and achieve 100% efficiency, Van der Burgh returned in 2009 to win the coveted gold medal in the 50m breaststroke race in the World Championships in Rome, setting a new world record; and also won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke event.

An avid golfer and amateur photographer, Van der Burgh put in another strong performance in the 2010 season winning two gold medals (50m and 100m breaststroke) at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, as well as a gold in the 100m and a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke events at the 2010 World Championships in Dubai.

2010 was also the year the Audi A1 ambassador made his modelling debut, his ready smile, friendly personality and toned swimming physique capturing more hearts as Mr February in Cosmopolitan’s Sexiest South African Men Calendar.

Van der Burgh won gold in the 50m and broke the championship record in Barcelona, Spain in June this year, before winning two bronze medals for the 50m and 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Shanghai. He also brought home two gold medals from the All Africa games held in Maputo, Mozambique recently.

Unlike previous South African swimming champions, Van der Burgh is the first champion-material swimmer not to head to the US or elsewhere overseas to train. Although he has been training recently under Tokyo-based Norimasa Harai, Van der Burgh does most of his swimming training at the Olympic-size pool in Hillcrest, Pretoria.

An avid coffee lover who professes to hate training, but thrive on the enjoyment of racing, Van der Burgh, at the age of 23, has already ticked off most of his major swimming goals – breaking a world record and winning gold at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He now has his sights firmly set on the 100m breaststroke event at the Olympics in 2012 – the shortest swimming course recognised at the Olympic Games. He has been training hard to improve his stroke and endurance.

The amiable Van der Burgh is also focused on giving back to the community and the sport. He’s helping mentor up-coming younger swimmers such as Chad le Clos and Charl van Zyl and sharing the tricks of the trade to speed them on their way to medals in the 2016 Olympics.

PROF JONATHAN JANSEN

Internationally renowned education academic, Professor Jonathan David Jansen, is one of South Africa’s leading intellectual experts. He has a solid academic grounding, is a captivating speaker, a master story teller and is known for his insightful and forthright comments on education issues… but it is in his more recent leadership roles at Universities that his true wisdom and leadership colours shine through with compassion, humility and deep understanding.

Much like his counterpart Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Jansen has been flown against conventions and risen above the challenges of being classified as a Coloured under the Apartheid era, and as part of his own growth is helping South Africa rise above the barriers of racism.

But let’s start at the beginning: Jansen was born on 29 September 1956 in the picturesque town of Montagu in the Western Cape between the Robertson wine district and the semi-desert area of the Little Karoo. He grew up here and in a township in the Cape Flats, and his youthful outlook was shaped by upheavals and the loss of family land and property due to forced removals.

Jansen, who attended Sullivan Primary School, then Steenberg High School, describes himself as an average student in the lower grades of high school – more interested in playing soccer, swimming at Muizenberg and cycling around with his mates.

Encouragement from Paul Gallant, Jansen’s high school Latin teacher and middle-distance running coach, changed his life. The high expectations Gallant set for his students made the young teenage Jansen believe he could achieve things despite the tough environment of the Cape Flats – and he has risen to great heights as a result.

Jansen graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of the Western Cape, completed his teaching qualifications through UNISA, and went on to obtain his masters from Cornell University in the US and his doctorate from Stanford University and is internationally regarded as one of the top researchers in the field of education.

A former biology teacher, Jansen served as Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria from 2001 to 2007, and was a Fulbright Scholar to Stanford in 2007 to 2008. He is an Honorary Professor of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand, and has received an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of Edinburgh and the Cleveland State University.

His keen interest in academic education has seen Jansen undertake more than twenty international commissioned research and evaluation projects including curriculum support to the Namibian Government and an assessment of curriculum change in Zimbabwe after independence.

He has also worked as an editor or on the editorial board for numerous journals published locally and internationally and boasts publications on education policy and curriculum change in academic and scientific journals and books, and has presented numerous research papers at local and international conferences.

In 2008 Jansen co-authored a book with Saloshna Vandeyar, called Diversity High: Class, Colour, Character and Culture in a South African High School and in 2009 he published Knowledge in the Blood which is a heartfelt and effective approach to achieving understanding and transformation in a divided society, based on Jansen’s experiences at the University of Pretoria.

The book considers why young Afrikaners, born at the time of Mandela’s release from prison, hold firm views about a past they never lived, rigid ideas about black people and fatalistic thoughts about the future. Jansen had planned to convey a story of how white students change under the leadership of a diverse group of senior academics, but Knowledge in the Blood ultimately became an unexpected and moving account of how these students in turn helped changed him – and helped him start to overcome his own racial hurt and fears.

On 1 July 2009 Jansen took up his appointment Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UOFS) at a time when racial tension was at its highest. The campus had been rocked by the infamous Reitz Four video and the students were polarized into clear racial camps. But in a fairly short space of time this remarkable man, armed with the lessons he’s learnt and the courage of his convictions, has been able to encourage students to meet each other half way – to the point that the UOFS, a former bastion of Afrikaner learning, is fast becoming a living model of genuine integration worth replicating across the country.

This gifted orator, facilitator and leader has, through listening and introspection, found the key to real transformation. He’s encouraging his students, and each of us, to step forward and be part of the transformation journey; part of the solution – and he’s leading by example.

LEWIS PUGH

Born in the UK in on 5 December 1969, a young Lewis Pugh, who would go on to become a world renowned pioneer swimmer and conservationist, moved to South Africa with his parents, Gordon and Margery Pugh, at the age of 10.  South African became his second home for the next 17 years.

At the age of 17 he embarked on the first of his swimming feats by completing the swim from Robben Island to Cape Town in three hours. Pugh, more recently known as the human polar bear for his numerous extreme cold water swims, followed this by completing the first swim across Lake Malawi with Otto Thaning covering the 25km in 9 hours and 50 minutes, and swimming across the English Channel in 14 hours and 50 minutes at the age to 22 while studying for his Law degree at the University to Cape Town.

A St Andrews College and Camps Bay High School scholar, Pugh went on to become a maritime lawyer in London, and a reservist in the elite British Special Air Service before deciding to follow his dreams and push the boundaries of what is considered possible.

He abandoned his career which included reading international law at Jesus College in Cambridge to became a swimming pioneer, achieving feats similar to his childhood heroes of Scott and Hillary, except in water rather than on land.

Pugh achieved an impressive selection of world firsts in the swimming world. He became the first person to swim around the North Cape, the most northern point in Europe and the first to swim the length of Sognefjord in Norway, the longest fjord in the world.

He was also the first person to swim around the Cape of Good Hope and to swim around the entire Cape Peninsula.

In 2005 Pugh broke the world record for the most northern long distance swim, deep in the Arctic Ocean and undertook the longest polar swim - one mile across Whalers Bay in the South Shetland Islands.

He went on to win a gold medal in the 500-metre freestyle event at the World Winter Games in Finland in 2006. The same year he became the first person to achieve what is considered the Holy Grail of swimming having completed a long distance swim in every ocean in the world.

But Pugh is probably best known for his one kilometre swim in an open patch of sea at the North Pole in July 2007 wearing only his trademark Speedo, swimming cap and goggles.  He plunged into the minus 1.7 degree Celsius water to draw attention to the impact of global warming, the melting of the Arctic sea ice and the plight of his favourite animal, the polar bear. That swim in freezing waters that few would survive took 18 minutes and 50 seconds to complete.

An accomplished and compelling motivational speaker, Pugh was awarded a fellowship at the New York Explorers Club, Rotary International’s Paul Harris Fellowship and Sports Adventurer of the Year Award by the French Sports Academy in 2007.

In 2008 he founded the Polar Defence Project which went on to win the Best Project for the Environment at the inaugural Beyond Sports Awards in 2009.

2009 was also the year Pugh received the highest honour in South Africa – the gold cross, or Order of Ikhamanga – for his exceptional sporting triumphs, humanitarian feats and creating consciousness about the negative effects of global warming.

Pugh learnt the importance of a well-prepared support team on his early expeditions. He included renowned South African sports scientist, Tim Noakes, on both his arctic and Antarctic expeditions. It was Prof Noakes from the University of Cape Town who first recorded Pugh’s unique ability to raise his core body temperature by two degrees Celsius before diving into cold water – and called it anticipatory thermo-genesis.

In 2010, Pugh was appointed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and went on to complete his hardest challenge yet – a 22 minute and 51 second swim across Lake Pumori, a glacial lake on Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,300 metres. Pugh succeeded on his second attempt after realising his usual tactic of pushing determinedly and fast through a cold-water swim could not work at high altitude.

Now a sought-after speaker, Pugh, who describes himself as an explorer, athlete and polar protector, has just published his first book. Achieving the Impossible is a riveting and inspirational account of Pugh’s life, and how he came to believe in his passions and dreams and dared to achieve the impossible.

It is reassuring to know that Pugh, with his first hand experience of goal-setting teamwork and leadership, thinks that saving our planet is not impossible. He’s complete a number of other firsts, like swimming the entire length of the River Thames to raise awareness and hopefully the World Economic Forum is right in believing he has “the potential to shape the future of the world through his inspiring leadership”.

LAWRENCE ANTHONY

Internationally renowned South African conservationist, Lawrence Anthony, shot into fame for his daring (and by his own admission, foolhardy), rescue of zoo animals in the capital city of Baghdad in war stricken Iraq in 2003 – earning himself the United Nation’s Earth Day award in 2004.

A tall, genial and disarmingly humble man, Anthony comes across as deeply concerned about humanitarian issues, animal welfare and the degradation of our planet.

Born in 1950, Anthony is the eldest of three children, and grew up in the African bush, moving to Zambia, Malawi and then Zululand in South Africa according to the dictates of his father’s job in insurance sales.

Although he has no formal conservation training, a youth filled with exploring the African bush cemented a deep and abiding love for the natural world and honed the skills that Anthony needed to turn from estate agent to property developer to a respected conservationist.

With his elegant Parisian wife, Francoise, Anthony has established Thula Thula, a luxury private game lodge just inland from Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal which finances his considerable conservation efforts and serves as a base for his conservation work.

For twelve years Anthony has been campaigning to win the trust and support of previously rival clans, encouraging them to work together for the greater benefit of both communities and wildlife, in an ambitious community eco-tourism project.

His perseverance over literally hundreds of meetings is about to pay off.

Fences are will soon be dropped between Thula Thula and neighbouring community land in a joint venture that will ultimately see the local communities owning and operating their own game reserves with the requisite training and transfer of skills. The added benefit will be an extended conservation area of 15,000 hectares that will eventually join up the Hluhluwe-Imofolozi reserve.

Anthony believes that education is the key to future conservation efforts, and this is where Thula Thula plays a part, encouraging visitors to become better acquainted with nature through game drives and guided bush walks where one can feel the thrill of watching and appreciating wildlife up close.

He has also founded the Earth Organization, an independent non-profit international conservation and environmental organisation. Borrowing the franchise principle an applying it to a non-profit scenario, the Earth Organisation encourages members to adopt conservation projects that hold a personal interest for them, giving a constructive outlet to areas of conservation passion.

With cutting insightfulness Anthony says he has never understood the saying to “think outside the box”. “Why would anyone sit inside a box and try to think outside of it. Why not get out the box?” questions Anthony who is a strong believer in questioning societal conventions and the accepted way of doing things.

He certainly did that when settling a herd of rogue elephants on Thula Thula, learning to trust his instinct over textbook knowledge to save the lumbering but powerful pachyderms from certain death as troublesome animals.

Traumatised by the culling of older herd members, the herd Anthony inherited had become escape artists and as custodian of the herd Anthony unwittingly embarked on a personally transforming odyssey as protector and finally as a trusted friend of the herd.

The moving tale is recounted in Anthony’s book, jointly authored with Graham Spence, The Elephant Whisperer, which is already reaching bestseller status in the UK.

Anthony’s 2003 wartime zoo rescue in Baghdad is retold in the exciting book Babylon’s Ark and a film recounting Anthony’s epic rescue is currently under negotiation.

Flowing out of the Baghdad rescue, Anthony is successfully campaigning for the United Nations to give wildlife areas including game reserves, zoos and marine parks the same status as schools and hospitals during times of conflict; and veterinarians and game rangers the same status as doctors and nurses.

“There are so many critically endangered species that a war could prompt the extinction of a species. For many species zoos and game reserves are little Noah’s arks – the last refuge for critically endangered species – and they need to be protected,” says Anthony.

The current draft resolution with the UN seeks to declare an attack on such places as a war crime, and Anthony believes it has a good chance of being adopted.

The father of two adult sons, Anthony, has also won acclaim for his work persuading rebel troops fighting in Uganda to protect the white rhinoceros.

Having a purpose or focus is one of Anthony’s secrets of success. He says the Baghdad zoo rescue succeeded was a result of a heavy focus on purpose. “If you have a purpose, you find a way to achieve it, no matter the odds,” says Anthony.

AARON MOKOENA

The captain of South Africa’s national soccer team, Bafana Bafana, and well-known premier league player, Aaron Mokoena, needs little introduction. Known as “mbazo” (which means “the axe”) the twenty-eight-year-old has cut a successful sporting career and cleaved his way into the hearts of our sport-loving nation, not only as a sports hero, but also as someone who is determined to invest the future of South Africa.

As a youngster growing up in the Boipatong Township, south of Johannesburg, Mokoena began to hone his balls skills from the tender age of four on the grass-poor and dusty Township pitches.
A lover of ball sports, Mokoena made a choice in his early teens between the dream of a career in basketball or a career in soccer and decided to focus on soccer.

His good form when playing for Jomo Cosmos and Ajax Cape Town saw him selected in 1999 as the youngest player ever to represent South Africa in an international soccer match, at the age of 17- playing in the 2000 Sydney summer Olympics qualifiers.

Known as a versatile and athletic mid-fielder and centre-back Mokoena replaced Lucas Rabebe as captain of the South African national side in 2002 and has become a role model for soccer loving youngsters in South Africa.

Mokoena lead South Africa’s squad for the first time just before the 2002 World Cup and by the time he was 24 had made more than 25 international appearances wearing the green and gold jersey.

In June last year he overtook Shaun Bartlett to take the honour of being South Africa’s most capped soccer player.

Mokoena also played in Europe for Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax Amsterdam and Genk before moving the to the English Premier League in 2005 playing for Blackburn Rovers.

He recently signed a three-year contract with Portsmouth FC and will be playing for them from August this year.

Mokoena, together with other popular African soccer players, joined the Confederation of African Football and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in a campaign to promote the right to quality education and raise money for children in Africa.

Inspired by the desire to improve opportunities for children in South Africa, as well as promote soccer in the country, Mokoena launched the Aaron Mokoena Foundation at the end of May this year as a charitable organisation in both South Africa and the UK.

Mokoena, who started from very humble beginnings, says he had dreamt of giving back something to the roots that helped him develop his skills as a soccer player ever since he turned professional.

Our Bafana Bafana captain believes that soccer coaching would not only improve the standard of the game in South Africa, but will also play a boarder role in society by bringing communities together and fostering better habits for South Africa’s youth.

Through the Foundation Mokoena hopes to improve the quality of soccer coaching, develop local soccer leagues and focus on developing young players through the provision of a robust coaching programme and integrating it with training in health and fitness, self esteem, confidence building and social etiquette.
While Mokoena believes he is fortunate to get to where he is today, he also readily acknowledges that it took a lot of hard work and a number of sacrifices.

Mokoena’s foundation, a way of giving back to his country, was launched on May 28th 2010 in the neighbourhood where Mokoena first learnt to kick a ball: Boipatong; which falls within the Sedibeng District Municipality. He sees it as a tangible legacy and the chance to make a real difference in people’s lives.

The launch tournament for kids aged between five and 16 in Boipatong, involved the local primary and high schools and had players like Lucas Radebe, Phil Masinga, Shaun Bartlett and Mark Fish lending support.

Mokoena plans to embark on a number of road shows both in South Africa and in the UK to raise awareness of the Foundation’s programmes and will be looking for support from local government as well as corporate sponsors.

Although he is very busy with premier league and aware of the heady responsibility of leading South Africa’s challenge for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, Mokoena believes that the timing for the launch of the Aaron Mokoena Foundation could not be better. The eyes of the world are on South Africa, and everyone is alive to the fact that soccer as a sport can shape lives, and that soccer heroes can play a big part as role models.

Mokoena is a shining example of how soccer can really change lives and he hopes to touch the lives of kids in South Africa and aid the development of soccer and soccer players in his home country.

RAY CHAPLIN

If you’re looking for inspiration to get you to dream bigger and bolder in 2011, then you need look no further than South African adventurer, Ray Chaplin. On 15 May, Chaplin (30) will set off on what can only be described as the holy grail of expeditions – a self-powered circumnavigation of the world, via the north and south poles, crossing 31 countries and covering 66,000km.

Going from a boy who dreamed about being everything from an airline pilot to a radio presenter and a nightclub DJ, Chaplin a recognised adventurer and gear tester for outdoor magazines, now plans to become the first person to vertically circumnavigate the world using only human power – a journey that is expected to take six years to complete.

Around the world in 6 years


Setting off from Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa, Chaplin plans to cycle 9,450km to Djibouti. Followed by 3,350km by boat across the Red Sea, and via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean landing in Turkey, the starting point of Chaplin’s 7,270km cycle across Europe to Norway.

The former IT professional who matriculated from SA College High School, before going on to complete his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MSCE) course, will then power 1,000km across the Barents Sea in his specially designed combination pedal and paddle boat, and ski 4,250km across the Arctic via the North Pole to Iqaluit in Canada. From there, it’s back into the boat for 3,500km to Ottawa, followed by a mind-numbing 20,775km cycle from Canada to Argentina.

Then it’s back to self-propelled boat power to cross to the Arctic Peninsula, and a return ski journey of 6,600km to the South Pole and back before tackling mental and physical fatigue across the Drake Passage, passing through the Falkland Islands and crossing the Southern Atlantic to return back home.

Chaplin, the younger of two brothers, is no stranger to endurance adventures. In 2007 he cycled 2, 450km from between two major South African cities and has completed several stationary cycle marathons for charity, the longest being 57,5 hours non-stop for a fundraiser.

Last year he walked solo across South Africa, from Cape Point to Beit Bridge, pushing a cart with his equipment and food, and then immediately cycled from Johannesburg to Cape Town along the N1 using an old single-speed bike with back-pedal brakes.

Raising awareness


Chaplin also plans to use his trip to campaign for several important causes. His trip incorporates 100 UNESCO World Heritage Sites through which he hopes to showcase conservation and preservation initiatives and needs.

He also plans to distribute educational material to those in need across Africa, concentrating on the provision of self-sustainable computer centres powered by solar and wind. Through the use of sustainable transport Chaplin also hopes to create awareness of climate change, road congestions and health issues caused by our modern forms of transport.

From IT to adventurer


Chaplin’s move from IT to adventurer was more by chance than by design.

“I started feeling like a glorified babysitter or firefighter – always battling against the world of hackers and viruses, and end users. The general lifestyle was also getting to me. I was unfit, unhealthy and more often than not chasing my own tail,” explains Chaplin.

When he was selected to represent South Africa on an international youth expedition, Chaplin resigned. The expedition was called off, but Chaplin decided to do his own adventuring. “Putting my diverse knowledge and skills to better use seemed like a far better plan,” he says.

The intrepid adventurer is currently taking a break from training and fattening himself up while supporting stroke survivor, George Scola, walk the reverse of Chaplin’s 2010 trip across South Africa. Chaplin plans to climb back into the saddle at the end of January to prepare for the lengthy days in the saddle to come.

Looking ahead, Chaplin admits he is nervous.

“Staying healthy and strong enough to continue will be a constant worry, and choosing the north and south poles as my antipodal points adds complications – vast areas of extreme weather that can quickly become lethal, and little logistical support.”

“Then the Drake Passage back to South African is going to take every bit of luck, skill and prayer that one can muster. The ocean is big and my boat is small,” says Chaplin.

Chaplin's IT expertise has been invaluable in his preparations – from thinking big, being bale to plan all the required elements, to problem solving and communication.

“I’m also always on the lookout for new technology to bring to my adventures… like live GPS tracking with heart-rate data on my website,” says Chaplin who is rated as one of the most technologically advanced and best connected adventurers.

KGALEMA MOTLANTHE

2008 is likely to go down in history as a tumultuous year for South Africa. A year that started with a power crisis and was followed by the global economic crisis and an active political arena back home that saw the ruling African National Congress (ANC) decide to recall Thabo Mbeki as country president, voting in Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe, the ANC’s deputy president and former secretary general, as interim president of South Africa until the next elections, expected to take place in April 2009.

The 59-year-old Motlanthe became South Africa’s interim or caretaker president on September 25, 2008, and later assumed the role of deputy president after the election of Jacob Zuma as South Africa’s president.

Affectionately known as Mkulu, a term of veneration that means ‘elder’ or  ‘leader’, he is seen as a left-leaning intellectual who is not afraid to speak his mind, and gained public support for urging the ANC Youth League to respect the rule of law when ANCYL leader Julius Malema said he was prepared to kill for ANC president Jacob Zuma.

Motlanthe is seen both as a voice of reason and a unifying force within the ANC and was the only person to feature on both the Zuma and Mbeki top lists at the succession battle at the party conference in Polokwane in December last year.

Born in Alexandra Township, close to the centre of Johannesburg, on July 19, 1949, he attended an Anglican missionary school in Alex now known as Pholos Primary before moving to Meadowlands, Soweto in 1959. The church played a major role in his formative years and the Tswana speaking youngster served as an altar boy for many years and even considered becoming a priest.

After matriculating from Orlando High School Motlanthe went to work for the Johannesburg City Council for several years during the 1970s as a supervisor in the commercial department overseeing bottle-stores and agricultural marketing in the townships. It was during this period that the avid soccer player and jazz lover was recruited to the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (meaning spear of the nation).

Motlanthe’s unit was initially tasked with recruiting new members for military training, but later became involved in sabotage. Motlanthe was arrested by the security police on April 14, 1976, just months before the Soweto uprising, and detained until his trial in February 1977 where he was found guilty on three counts of terrorism and was sent to Robben Island for ten years.

In various reports, Motlanthe describes his time of incarceration on the island as and enriching period filled with camaraderie, sharing and learning; although it is bound to have also been hard and exceedingly tough.

Shortly after his release in April 1987 he joined the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) first as an education officer and rising to secretary general of the mining union in January 1992 succeeding Cyril Ramaphosa. It was here that Motlanthe began to hone his political skills.

When the ANC was unbanned Motlanthe became the chairman of the party’s Gauteng region but stepped down in September 1991 to devote more time to NUM.

The father of two daughters and one son followed in Ramaphosa’s footsteps again and became secretary general of the ANC in December 1997, a position he held until his appointment as the deputy president of the ANC in December 2007.

The ANC conference in Polokwane in December 2007 saw Mbeki losing the presidency of the ANC to Zuma, and the new ANC leadership applied pressure on Mbeki to appoint Motlanthe, widely believed to be the brains behind Zuma’s campaign, to the cabinet.

Described as a committed socialist and 120% ANC, Motlanthe became a member of parliament in May 2008, and in a move to facilitate a smooth transition of government after the 2009 elections was appointed to the cabinet as a minister without portfolio in July 2008.

Motlanthe went on to become the third post-apartheid president winning 269 of a possible 351 parliamentary votes in September and now fills the role of deputy president under Jacob Zuma after the 2009 polls.

As president he proved more popular than Mbeki and gained approval for the appointment of Barbara Hogan as minister of health and facilitating a conventional scientific approach to HIV, as well as his assurances that he will stick to former president Mbeki’s pro-business financial policies.

Motlanthe, who has studiously avoided any limelight, appears to put the ANC before himself, and is respected by all for his studious regard for process and consultation.