Nathi Mthethwa

Emmanuel Nkosinathi "Nathi" Mthethwa is a South African politician who served as Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture from 2019 until his demotion from cabinet in 2023. He had previously served as the Chief Whip for the African National Congress in the National Assembly in 2008, as Minister for Safety and Security (later known as Minister of Police) from 2008 to 2014, and as Minister of Arts and Culture from 2014 to 2019.^[1][2] He is from Kwambonambi, KwaZulu-Natal.

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Nkosinathi Mthethwa
Nathi Mthethwa (right)
Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture
In office 30 May 2019 – 6 March 2023
President	Cyril Ramaphosa
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Zizi Kodwa
Minister of Arts and Culture
In office 25 May 2014 – 30 May 2019
President	Jacob Zuma Cyril Ramaphosa
Preceded by	Paul Mashatile
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of Police
In office 10 May 2009 – 25 May 2014
President	Jacob Zuma
Succeeded by	Nkosinathi Nhleko
Minister for Safety and Security
In office 25 September 2008 – 10 May 2009
President	Kgalema Motlanthe
Preceded by	Charles Nqakula
Succeeded by	Post renamed
Chief Whip of the Majority Party
In office January 2008 – 25 September 2008
President	Thabo Mbeki Kgalema Motlanthe
Preceded by	Isaac Mogase
Succeeded by	Mnyamezeli Booi
Personal details
Born	Emmanuel Nkosinathi Mthethwa (1967-01-23) 23 January 1967 (age 57)
Citizenship	South African
Political party	African National Congress
Profession	Politician

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Mthethwa was Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the National Assembly from January 2008^[3] until September 2008, when he was appointed Minister of Safety and Security by newly elected President Kgalema Motlanthe.^[4] He was South Africa's Minister of Police at the time of the August 2012 Marikana Massacre, the most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since 1976.^[5] The Marikana Commission of Inquiry^[6] led by judge Ian Farlam mentioned Mthethwa's role in the incident several times.

Mthethwa told the Commission in 2014: "What I know is that as the political head at the time, I’d have been responsible for all the things the police were doing".^[7]

In its official report, the Commission noted that while Mthethwa's counsel had submitted that he could not "be held liable for the tragic loss of lives at Marikana", the counsel representing some 270 injured or arrested mineworkers had "submitted that the Commission should recommend to the National Director of Public Prosecutions that he should consider prosecuting Minister Mthethwa for the murder of the 34 strikers who were killed on 16 August at Marikana."^[8] The Commission did not disagree with the recommendations counsel for the Injured and Arrested Persons as it had with the Counsel's recommendations regarding then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and others, however, it also did not endorse these recommendations.

Mthethwa was not among nine people charged in connection with Marikana in 2018.^[9] Farlam himself has since bemoaned the lack of prosecutions, saying: "it was said at the time that we'd exonerated everyone including the minister of police. That wasn't true. We found that the evidence was very inconclusive, we couldn't make a definite finding against the minister of police."^[10]

The Commission did find that, in a speech given to members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) on 17 August 2012, Mthethwa gave "what would have been understood to be an unqualified endorsement of the police action" at Marikana. This speech, the Commission found, was "calculated to bring about a closing of the ranks and to discourage any SAPS member who was minded to tell the Commission that things had not gone as well as they must have hoped they would."^[8]