Ellis Vezi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ellis Vezi
Member of the National Assembly
In office
August 2002 – 31 March 2007
Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature
In office
June 1999 – August 2002
Personal details
Born
Temba Ellis Vezi

(1938-12-16) 16 December 1938 (age 85)
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyInkatha Freedom Party

Temba Ellis Vezi (born 16 December 1938) is a retired South African politician who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007. Before that, he served in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 1999 to 2002. During apartheid, he was a politician and legislator in the KwaZulu bantustan.

Early life and career[edit]

Born on 16 December 1938,[1] Vezi was a longstanding member of the IFP and represented the party (then called Inkatha) as a backbencher in the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly during apartheid.[2] During the same period, he worked for more than two decades at a law firm, and he was later a development officer at Barclays Bank and a self-employed insurance broker.[2]

Post-apartheid political career[edit]

In the 1999 general election, Vezi was elected for the first time[2] to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, representing the IFP.[3] However, midway through the term, in August 2002, he was transferred to a seat in the National Assembly.[4] The transfer came in the run-up to a floor-crossing window; with the IFP in danger of losing its control of the province, observers assumed that the party was attempting to ensure that its provincial caucus was peopled with maximally loyally members who would not defect to another party.[5]

In the next general election in 2004, Vezi was elected to a full term in the National Assembly, serving the KwaZulu-Natal constituency. He resigned on 31 March 2007 and was replaced by Pat Lebenya the following day.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Francis, Suzanne (23 December 2011). Institutionalizing Elites: Political Elite Formation and Change in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature. BRILL. pp. 131, 150, 194. ISBN 978-90-04-21922-9.
  3. ^ "General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 408, no. 20203. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 11 June 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  4. ^ "IFP in bid to strengthen its KZN team". IOL. 13 August 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Paranoia 'rife' in Inkatha". The Mail & Guardian. 20 June 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  6. ^ "National Assembly Members". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. 15 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2023.