Velenkosini Hlabisa


Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa is a South African politician and former teacher who is the President of the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. He previously served as the Secretary-General of the IFP and the Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality.

Early life, education and career

Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa was born on 4 January 1965 in Hlabisa, Northern Natal. He is the eldest of four children. He joined the IFP Youth Brigade at the age of thirteen in 1978 and matriculated from high school in 1983. Hlabisa then proceeded to study at the University of Zululand and the University of South Africa. His father died while he was at university in 1990. In 1991, he sought employment as a teacher and worked as a teacher at Ngebeza High School for five years and soon as principal of Somfula High School for twenty years.

Political career

In the 1995 municipal elections, Hlabisa was elected a municipal councillor for the town of Hlabisa. He continuously served as a municipal councillor for twenty-four years, during which he was Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019. He was elected to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in May 2019 and was given the title of Leader of the Opposition due to the IFP reclaiming the title of the second-largest party in the province. Hlabisa is a member of the legislature's Finance committee.
Since joining the IFP in 1978, Hlabisa has risen through the party's leadership ranks. He was elected Secretary-General of the party in 2011. In 2017, the IFP's Extended National Council unanimously endorsed Hlabisa to succeed Mangosuthu Buthelezi as party president. Hlabisa was elected unopposed as the new leader of the IFP at the party's 35th National General Conference held in August 2019.