Phumulo Masualle

Godfrey Phumulo Masualle (born 12 December 1965) is a South African politician from the Eastern Cape who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly since May 2019. He was Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises from May 2019 to March 2023, and before that he was the sixth Premier of the Eastern Cape from May 2014 to May 2019.

Born in Mount Fletcher, Masualle was a member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature from 1999 to 2019. From 1999 to 2002, and later from 2008 to 2014, he held several different portfolios in the Eastern Cape Executive Council under Premiers Makhenkesi Stofile, Mbulelo Sogoni, and Noxolo Kiviet. During his first decade as a legislator, he rose to national prominence as a member of the left-wing coalition that supported Jacob Zuma's political rise; Masualle was the provincial chairperson of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape, and he served as the party's national treasurer from 2007 to 2012. He was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee for the first time in December 2007.

Between September 2009 and March 2017, Masualle was the provincial chairperson of the ANC's Eastern Cape branch. During this period, after the 2014 general election, he ascended to the Premier's office, where he served a single term. He was succeeded as provincial chairperson by Oscar Mabuyane at a hotly contested party conference, dubbed the "festival of chairs" for the violent brawl that broke out ahead of the vote.

Pursuant to the 2019 general election, he was sworn in to the National Assembly and appointed as a deputy minister by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Ahead of the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022, Masualle launched an unsuccessful campaign to be elected as ANC secretary-general, standing on a slate of candidates opposed to Ramaphosa's re-election. On 6 March 2023, Ramaphosa fired him as a deputy minister, relegating him to the backbenches of the National Assembly.