Aziz Pahad

Aziz Pahad (born 25 December 1940) is a South African politician, who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999-2008, he currently serves as an MP for Johannesburg West Highlands. He is the brother of Essop Pahad.

Aziz Pahad matriculated at Central Indian High School, Johannesburg in 1959. He graduated in 1963 from the University of the Witwatersrand in Sociology and Afrikaans. He obtained a Diploma in International Relations from University College, London in 1966 and an MA degree from the University of Sussex in 1968.

Under the apartheid regime in South Africa, Aziz Pahad was given a banning order in 1963, restricting his movement and preventing him from attending public meetings. In 1966, he left South Africa and lived mostly in London but also spent some time in Angola and Zimbabwe. He started working full-time for the ANC, developing the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the United Kingdom and Europe. In 1985, he was elected a National Executive Committee member of the ANC – a position he still holds.

In 1991, a year after he returned to South Africa from exile, he was appointed deputy head of the ANC Department of International Affairs. For the next three years, Aziz Pahad served as a member of the National Peace Executive Committee and of the Transitional Executive Council's sub-committee on Foreign Affairs.

In 1994, he was elected a Member of Parliament and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of President Nelson Mandela. He was re-elected in the 1999 election.

Following the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki in September 2008, Pahad was among those members of the Cabinet who submitted their resignations on 23 September, although it was subsequently announced that he might be willing to remain in his post.

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