Mxolisi Dukwana

Mxolisi Dukwana
Dukwana in 2022
Speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature
Assumed office
27 June 2024
DeputyNolitha Ndungan
Preceded byZanele Sifuba
7th Premier of the Free State
In office
24 February 2023 – 14 June 2024
Preceded bySisi Ntombela
Succeeded byMaqueen Letsoha-Mathae
Provincial Chairperson of the African National Congress
Assumed office
22 January 2023
DeputyKetso Makume
Preceded bySam Mashinini
Member of the Free State Executive Council for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
In office
1 October 2021 – 24 February 2023
PremierSisi Ntombela
Preceded byThembeni Nxangisa
Succeeded byKetso Makume
Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature
Assumed office
28 September 2021
Member of the Free State Executive Council for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs
In office
22 October 2008 – 22 February 2012
Premier
Preceded byNeo Masithela
Succeeded byMamiki Qabathe
Personal details
Born
Mxolisi Abraham Dukwana

(1964-09-14) 14 September 1964 (age 60)
Odendaalsrus, Orange Free State
South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress

Mxolisi Abraham Dukwana (born 14 September 1964) is a South African politician who has served as the speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature since June 2024. He was elected Provincial Chairperson of the Free State branch of his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), in January 2023. He was the seventh Premier of the Free State from February 2023 until June 2024. Prior to his election as Premier, he served in the Free State Executive Council as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs since October 2021.

A teacher by training, Dukwana entered provincial government as MEC for Education from 1996 to 1998. Between 1998 and 2008, he held several positions in the Free State Provincial Legislature, where he was Majority Chief Whip, Deputy Speaker, and Speaker. Over the same period he rose through the provincial ANC, ultimately serving as Provincial Treasurer of the ANC in the Free State from 2005 to 2012. In 2008, he was returned to the Executive Council by Premier Beatrice Marshoff, under whom he served as MEC for Public Safety and Security in 2008 and MEC for Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs from 2008 to 2009. He was retained in the latter portfolio by Marshoff's successor, Ace Magashule.

In February 2012, however, Magashule fired Dukwana; later the same year, Dukwana attempted unsuccessfully to unseat Magashule as ANC Provincial Chairperson. He subsequently retreated from frontline politics until May 2021, when he was appointed the interim convenor of the ANC's Free State branch. In September of that year, he was sworn back into the Free State Provincial Legislature, and, in early October, Premier Sisi Ntombela appointed him as MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In January 2023, Dukwana narrowly beat Ntombela to be elected ANC Provincial Chairperson, and he replaced her as Premier the following month.