ZAMUXOLO JOSEPH PETER
10 January 1965 – 31 July 2020
Former Mayor of Makana Municipality Zamuxolo Joseph Peter.succumbed to Covid-19 on Friday, 31 July 2020. He passed away in hospital.
Zamuxolo Peter was born on 10 January 1965 in Riebeeck East.
He started his secondary schooling Masiphathisane High School, Motherwell in Port Elizabeth. There, he became an active member of the Congress of the South African Students (Cosas), the Youth Congress and the Civic Movement – all under the United Democratic Front).
He continued with his studies, obtaining an accredited course from Border Technikon in the Eastern Cape.
Comrade Peter moved to Cape Town, where he worked for six months, and later returned to the Eastern Cape to work in a Dimbaza factory.
The ANC afforded him the chance to further grow his leadership skills in Beit Bele College in Israel.
He later married and they were blessed with three children.
Zamuxolo Peter was elected as Mayor of the Riebeeck East Transitional Local Council (TLC) in 1995.
In 2000 he was elected as Ward Councillor in Makana Local Municipality until end of term (2011). His leadership qualities were further recognised when he was elected Mayor of Makana Municipality in 2011, a position he held until 2015. The ANC later deployed him as Chief Whip and MMC of Corporate Services at Sarah Baartman District Municipality until 2019.
At the time of his passing, Zamuxolo Peter was a member of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the ANC in the Eastern Cape, a Member of Parliament (National Assembly) and served in the Portfolio Committee on Tourism and Standing Committee on the Auditor General. Prior to that, he was a Regional Executive Committee (REC) member of the ANC in the Sarah Baartman region.
Comrade Peter remained committed to finding solutions to various community problems. He had an unbroken record of service for the ANC in government on behalf of the people he was serving since 1994.
There are two things that stood out in him during his time in our movement. The first one is humility. Comrade Peter was a very humble comrade who listened and followed the directions he was given by the organization. He followed ANC orders even if it meant sacrificing his comfort zone. More importantly he led the communities he served with humility.
- Combined edited tribute from Provincial Secretary of the African National Congress, Lulama Ngcukayitobi and Premier of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane.