Gauteng’s new director general is a former student leader who spent his time dodging the police. He spoke to Annie Mapoma
A LEADER of the 1976 Soweto students’ uprising dubbed “master dodger” because police never arrested him is now Gauteng’s new director general, with a R13-billion budget and 130 000 administrative staff under his
Vincent Zwelibanzi Mntambo, a 38-year-old Sowetan lawyer with an LLM with honours from Yale, has, according to the provincial premier’s office, a “rich history of involvement in conflict resolution”.
His first taste of leadership was as head prefect at Pimville’s Musi High School, and the school’s representative on the Soweto Students’ Representative Council during and after June 1976. While 11 schoolmates were on trial for sedition, Mntambo spent five months on the run, evading arrest and the temptation of exile.
He completed matric in 1977. One of his most vivid later memories is of clawing his way through two part- time jobs to supplement his bursary for law studies at the University of Bophuthatswana (Unibo).
As a street photographer, he would walk the pavements to find people and functions to photograph; on Saturday nights he was a DJ at night clubs. “I would work from 11pm to 5am, and by the time I was finished I was so tired all I could do was have a beer and sleep.”
Mntambo quit working after five years of trying to cope and concentrated on his studies. “But I still love photography and I intend to go back to it when I’m settled in my new position.”
Administrative experience gained doing various jobs in Unibo’s personnel department and education faculty gave him yet another angle on problem solving. During that time the Education Opportunity Council granted him sponsorship to pursue his law studies at Yale, which was where he really began to come to grips with constitutional law.
On his return from Yale, Mntambo taught law at Unibo and the University of South Africa before joining the International Mediation Service of South Africa (Imssa), as regional director and then as national project director of the Imssa’s Community Conflict Regulation Service. His abilities as conflict mediator saw him rise to the position of president of the South African Association of Conflict Intervention (Saaci).
Midrand town secretary Tom Peters, who worked with Mntambo on the town’s Local Government Negotiation Forum, says he maintains a gentleness and friendliness in the face of extremely difficult tasks.
Mntambo is excited about his new position, which he will assume next month. “I saw it advertised twice, and I was interested though I didn’t apply,” he says. After Premier Tokyo Sexwale proposed that he take up the post, he formally applied — only to be faced with the dilemma of simultaneously being offered another powerful position, as Imssa’s director general.
“It was a difficult decision but I had to choose. Accepting Imssa’s offer would have been more or less a continuation of my current job. I saw the other one as being more challenging — especially the political
The idea of starting something new and the job’s greater flexibilty — encompassing corporate services, human resources, strategy planning, reconstruction and development programme co-ordination, and financial management — were what attracted him.
He admits that moving from a non-governmental organisation to a bureaucracy will be a big transition: “My lifestyle will change because I will be more in the public eye and there will be a lot of pressure on my free time.”
On the upside, the Gauteng administration has fairly young and committed people with fresh ideas. Through their combined efforts, he says, they will shape a new order.
Mntambo is married and has three children. He recalls his childhood dream to be an architect, inspired by his father’s work as a constructor. “I used to draw pictures of houses I wanted him to build,” he says. Now he is determined to be the builder.