Blade Nzimande
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The Honourable Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande MP |
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| Minister of Higher Education and Training | |
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Assumed office 11 May 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Naledi Pandor |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
14 April 1958 Edendale near Pietermaritzburg |
| Political party | South African Communist Party |
Dr. Bonginkosi Emmanuel "Blade" Nzimande (born 14 April 1958) is a South African politician who has been Minister for Higher Education and Training since 2009. He has been the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party since 1998. He has a doctorate degree in philosophy specialising in sociology. He came out strongly against proposals for nationalisation at the COSATU conference in June 2011, stating that it is not "inherently progressive" as it depended on which class interests were being advanced.
Nzimande was born in Edendale near Pietermaritzburg, on 14 April 1958. "Blade" Nzimande was one of the three children of Nozipho Alice and Phillip Sphambano, a Shangaan herbalist from Mozambique.
Nzimande attended the Roman Catholic School, Henryville, and then Plessiers Lower Primary School before going to Mthethomusha School in Edendale, the first school in the area established under the new Bantu education system. He matriculated in 1975 at Georgetown High, Edendale.
While at school participated in youth clubs which were gatherings for cultural and sporting events, and were not particularly political in nature. He first became politically aware when Harry Gwala was released from Robben Island prison in 1973 and this was widely discussed in his community.
He completed his Psychology Honours degree at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, in 1980. His master's degree is in Industrial Psychology (1981) and more recently he has been awarded a PhD from the same university for a thesis titled ""The corporate guerrillas" : class formation and the African corporate petty bourgeoisie in post-1973 South Africa" in the field of Sociology.
In 1976 Nzimande enrolled at the University of Zululand to study towards a BA degree, majoring in Public Administration and Psychology. He became involved in student activity, including a food boycott and demonstrations against the award of an honorary doctorate to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi in May 1976. During that time the Black Consciousness Movement-oriented South African Students' Organization (SASO) was prominent on campus, but Nzimande's political views later shifter towards the Congress Alliance.
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