Labour minister appoints new director general

Membathisi Mdladlana, the labour minister, announced the appointment of a new director general for the department today.

At first a miner and then a teacher, Mbuyiseli Vanguard Mkosana's appointment takes effect from December 1. He was born in Idutywa in the Eastern Cape. While working in the mining industry, Mkosana joined the ANC and went into exile in Lesotho in 1980.

There he played a role in the mining industry committee that contributed to the formation of the National Union of Mineworkers. He later served on the executive committee of the South African Congress of Trade Unions as the head of publicity in exile. When he returned from exile in 1990, Mkosana joined the South African Railways and Harbours Workers' Union as head of the media department.

Before joining the department of labour in 2000, Mkosana gained extensive experience in the Eastern Cape provincial government as head of department in the premier's office and the Department of Transport. Mkosana holds a doctorate of journalism from Charles University, Prague, in the Czech Republic. He also completed Wits University's Harvard Business School's Executive Programme for Southern Africa. - Sapa