Nkenke Kekana

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Nkenke Kekana is a South African politician and businessman born on 20 April 1962. He began as an anti-apartheid activist in the Alexandra township in the 1980s and helped found the South African Youth Congress in 1987. He was arrested during the state of emergency and detained without trial until 1989, taking part in an 18-day hunger strike while imprisoned.

Kekana studied computer programming and later earned a postgraduate diploma in telecommunications policy from the University of South Africa. He entered Parliament in 1994 after apartheid ended and served as a Member of the National Assembly until 2003. From 1999 to 2003 he chaired the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Communications. He was also active in ANC Gauteng structures and the ANC Youth League.

Alongside politics, Kekana built a business career. In 1996 he co-founded Business Connexion (which later became BCX), a major information technology company. In 2003 he left Parliament to join Telkom as group executive for regulatory affairs and public policy, resigning in 2005 to pursue other opportunities. He later led or participated in BEE-focused ventures, such as the Mowana 5 Mile consortium, which bid for a Vodacom deal in 2008 but did not win. He has also been involved in broadcasting, producing documentaries for the SABC, and he served as deputy chair and later chair of the Gauteng Film Commission.

Kekana returned to national politics in 2017 when he was elected to the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) and was appointed head of the NEC’s information and publicity subcommittee, a role he has held since 2018. He was re-elected to the NEC in 2022, ranking 57th among the 80 elected candidates.

Kekana is married and continues to be active in both politics and business.