Gwede Mantashe

Samson Gwede Mantashe is a South African politician, trade unionist and former underground miner who serves as Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and as ANC national chairperson. He has held the minerals and energy portfolio continuously since February 2018, making him one of the longest-serving members of the current cabinet. Before that he spent a decade as ANC secretary-general, from 2007 to 2017.

His public identity is built on a blunt, plain-speaking style and an unshakable loyalty to the ANC that has outlasted several party leaders. In energy policy he has become the country's most visible defender of coal, gas and nuclear, a position that has put him at odds with renewable-energy advocates and with parts of his own party. He remains a member of the SACP even after the party removed him from its Central Committee in August 2025.

In October 2026 he became the centre of a national controversy over explicit "sex-for-jobs" comments, for which the ANC formally directed him to apologise. He is married to Nolwandle Mantashe. [edit]

Mantashe was born on 21 June 1955 in Lower Cala, a rural settlement in the former Transkei, now part of the Eastern Cape. He grew up in a family of peasant farmers, one of four children, and attended Lower Cala Primary before matriculating at St John's College in Mthatha between 1972 and 1974. His political awakening came through the Student Christian Movement, an organisation that quietly fed a generation of black students into the liberation movement.

In 1976 he joined the ANC and took a job underground at Matla Colliery, a coal mine in what was then the eastern Transvaal. The work was hard and dangerous, and it was there that he first encountered the National Union of Mineworkers. He joined the union and rose through its structures over the next decade, becoming a full-time organiser in 1988. He joined the South African Communist Party in 1981, the same year he began to take on more responsibility within NUM's regional structures.

His formal education was pursued part-time while he worked. He earned a B.Com through UNISA, followed by a B.Admin (Hons) from Rhodes University and a Master's degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. That combination of shop-floor experience and academic training set him apart from many of his contemporaries. [edit]

Mantashe's union career peaked between 1994 and 2006. He served as NUM assistant general secretary under Kgalema Motlanthe from 1994 to 1998, then took over as general secretary in 1998, a post he held until May 2006, when he handed over to Frans Baleni. He then spent a short period at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

His national political breakthrough came in December 2007 at the ANC's 52nd National Conference in Polokwane, where he was elected secretary-general. He was re-elected at Mangaung in 2012 and served until December 2017. During that decade he also served as SACP national chairperson from 2007 to 2012. As secretary-general he defended Jacob Zuma against state capture allegations, a stance that defined how many South Africans saw him.

At the ANC's 54th National Conference in December 2017 he was elected national chairperson, and Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him Minister of Mineral Resources in February 2018. The portfolio was expanded to Mineral Resources and Energy in May 2019 and renamed Mineral and Petroleum Resources in June 2024. He was re-elected national chairperson in December 2022. In August 2025 the SACP removed him from its Central Committee, though he remains a party member. [edit]

Mantashe's public image is that of the ANC's blunt uncle: loyal, disciplined, and utterly unafraid of a fight. He dresses in the standard party uniform of dark suits and ANC regalia, and his speeches are delivered in a low, deliberate register that can turn sharp when he feels challenged. Media coverage often frames him as the last true believer in coal, a man who sees the energy transition as a threat to South African jobs rather than an opportunity.

His social media presence is unfiltered. On X he posts party slogans and campaign updates with little of the polish of younger politicians. That directness has earned him a reputation for honesty among some voters and for stubbornness among others. [edit]

iFANN has not yet collected fame data for Gwede Mantashe, so no ranking is available. He does not appear on the September 2026 iFAMOUS Rankings flagship list.

His following is political rather than fandom-based. There is no fandom name, no organised fan campaigns, and no streaming or chart culture around him. What he has instead is a constituency: ANC members in mining regions, union veterans who remember his NUM years, and a broader public that follows him because of his cabinet role. On X, where he posts as @GwedeMantashe1, his replies are a mix of party loyalists and critics, and his public meetings on the campaign trail still draw crowds in ANC strongholds. The closest thing to a fan ritual is the way his phrases circulate after interviews, with lines like "I don't know what I must apologise for" becoming shorthand for a certain kind of political stubbornness. [edit]

Mantashe is one of the few senior ANC figures who can claim genuine underground mining experience. He worked at Matla Colliery for years before moving into full-time union work, and he still speaks about the dust and danger of that period with a miner's matter-of-factness.

He is a published author, having cooperated with Gwede Mantashe: The Authorised Biography, which traces his journey from the Transkei to the cabinet. He is also active on X as @GwedeMantashe1, where he posts ANC messaging in a style that is unmistakably his own.

A story his allies like to tell is that he once dismissed a younger critic by saying she was "too young to understand alliance traditions," a line that captures both his confidence and his occasional tone-deafness. In October 2026 he told an interviewer, "I don't know what I must apologise for," a phrase that quickly became a meme among his detractors. [edit]

Mantashe is married to Nolwandle Mantashe. The couple have children, though the family has largely stayed out of the public eye. He has spoken in interviews about the values he learned growing up in a farming household in the Transkei, where hard work and discipline were non-negotiable. He remains close to his rural roots and has occasionally referenced his upbringing when defending his political positions. [edit]

Cyril Ramaphosa, Kgalema Motlanthe, Frans Baleni, Jacob Zuma, Zingiswa Malatji. [edit]

Mantashe is married to Nolwandle Mantashe. The couple have children, and the marriage has been a stable part of his public life throughout his rise in the ANC and his time in cabinet. There is no credible public record of earlier marriages, divorces, or high-profile relationships. As of 2026, he remains married to Nolwandle. [edit]

The iFANN Editorial Team's analysis of Gwede Mantashe's earnings, public roles and assets points to roughly $2 million as of 2026. That figure reflects a career built on public service rather than private enterprise: ministerial salaries, parliamentary compensation, and decades of union and party work.

Mantashe has drawn a cabinet minister's salary since February 2018, and before that he earned as ANC secretary-general, a full-time party position. His earlier career at the NUM and the Development Bank of Southern Africa provided a modest base. Like many senior ANC figures, he is not known for high-profile business ventures or major shareholdings, and no credible outlet has published a detailed breakdown of his assets. The estimate should be read as an informed approximation rather than a precise accounting. [edit]