South Africa 2009-02-16 : Ebrahim Patel - Minister of Economic Development

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has announced Ebrahim Patel as the Minister of Economic Development.

Speaking from the Union Buildings, Mr Zuma explained that the new Department of Economic Development has been established to focus on economic policy making, while the implementation functions will remain with the Department of trade and Industry.

Mr Ebrahim's Deputy will be former Speaker of Parliament Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

Mr Ebrahim joined the African National Congress as a youth activist in 1952 and participated in the Congress of the People campaign, which adopted the Freedom Charter in 1955. He was active in all the campaigns of the 1950s.

After the banning of the ANC in 1960, he joined the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe, in 1961, and was arrested and charged with sabotage.

He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on Robben Island. In 1986 he was kidnapped from Swaziland by the South African Security Forces, charged for high treason and again sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Robben Island.

In 1991, he was released from prison and elected to the National Executive of the ANC. In 1994, he became a Member of Parliament and chairperson of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2002, he resigned from Parliament to become a political advisor. - BuaNews