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'''Ebrahim Patel''' (born 1 January 1962) is a South African cabinet minister who holds the position of [[Minister of Trade and Industry (South Africa)|Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition]]. He previously served as [[Minister of Economic Development (South Africa)|Minister of Economic Development]] from 2009 to 2019.
'''Ebrahim Patel''' (born 1 January 1962) is a South African cabinet minister who holds the position of [[Minister of Trade and Industry (South Africa)|Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition]]. He previously served as [[Minister of Economic Development (South Africa)|Minister of Economic Development]] from 2009 to 2019.


== Early life and education ==
== Early life and activism ==
Patel was born on 1 January 1962<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Ebrahim Patel, Mr |url=https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/ebrahim-patel-mr |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> in [[District Six]] in [[Cape Town]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Vahed |first=Goolam H. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858966865 |title=Muslim Portraits: The Anti-apartheid Struggle |date=2012 |others= |isbn=1-874945-25-X |location=Durban, South Africa |pages=308-309 |chapter=Ebrahim Patel (1962–) |oclc=858966865}}</ref> He grew up in [[Lansdowne, Cape Town|Lansdowne]] and [[Grassy Park]], and his mother, a garment worker, was the sole breadwinner in the family.<ref name=":1" />
Patel was born on 1 January 1962<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Ebrahim Patel, Mr |url=https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/ebrahim-patel-mr |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> in [[District Six]] in [[Cape Town]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Vahed |first=Goolam H. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858966865 |title=Muslim Portraits: The Anti-apartheid Struggle |date=2012 |others= |isbn=1-874945-25-X |location=Durban, South Africa |pages=308-309 |chapter=Ebrahim Patel (1962–) |oclc=858966865}}</ref> He grew up in [[Lansdowne, Cape Town|Lansdowne]] and [[Grassy Park]] and was raised by a single mother, who was a garment worker.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=25 June 2020 |title=Ebrahim Patel: The man behind the mask |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/cover-story/2020-06-25-ebrahim-patel-the-man-behind-the-mask/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Financial Mail |language=en-ZA}}</ref> He became involved in political activism while at high school during the height of [[apartheid]] in the 1970s.<ref name=":1" />


In 1980, he enrolled at the [[University of the Western Cape]], where he continued his political organising – he was arrested and detained without charge on three separate occasions between 1980 and 1982.<ref name=":1" /> In 1982, he left the University of the Western Cape to take up a full-time position at the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, an [[economics]] research institute at the [[University of Cape Town]] (UCT). He continued studying for his bachelor's degree part-time and graduated later from UCT.<ref name=":1" />
He completed high school in 1979.


He started his tertiary education at the [[University of the Western Cape]] in 1980, but due to delays from being politically active, he ended up completing his BA (Bachelor of Arts) degree through the [[University of Cape Town]] a few years later.<ref name="SACTWU">{{cite web |author=Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union |author-link=Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union |date=12 May 2009 |title=Ebrahim Patel: The SACTWU biography |url=http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=128422&sn=Detail&pid=71619 |access-date=18 January 2011 |website=Politicsweb}}</ref>
Patel joined the anti-apartheid [[United Democratic Front (South Africa)|United Democratic Front]] in 1983, representing the [[Lotus River]]–Grassy Park area, and he was active in related civic organisations, including the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee.<ref name=":1" /> However, his foremost political engagement was through the burgeoning [[Trade unions in South Africa|trade union movement]]. Having been involved in supporting strikes during his earlier years as a student, he helped unionise university employees in the [[Cape Province]] while he was at UCT;<ref name=":2" /><ref name="SACTWU">{{cite web |author=Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union |author-link=Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union |date=12 May 2009 |title=Ebrahim Patel: The SACTWU biography |url=http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=128422&sn=Detail&pid=71619 |access-date=18 January 2011 |website=Politicsweb}}</ref> in 1985, he was elected as the inaugural general secretary of the university union that was established as part of the initiative.<ref name=":1" /> Also in 1985, he took part in the meetings that led to the formation of the [[Congress of South African Trade Unions]] (Cosatu), which went on to play a central role in [[Internal resistance to apartheid|opposition to apartheid]].<ref name=":1" />


== Clothing and textile unions: 1986–2009 ==
==Early political and labour activism==
⚫
In 1986, Patel became a full-time organiser for the [[National Union of Textile Workers (South Africa)|National Union of Textile Workers]], a large Cosatu affiliate which ultimately became the [[Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union|Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union']] (SACTWU).<ref name=":1" /><ref name="SACTWU" /> He deputised [[Johnny Copelyn]] as SACTWU's assistant secretary-general until 1993,'''<ref name=":2" />''' when he was elected to succeed Copelyn as secretary-general.<ref name=":1" />


According to [[Nicoli Nattrass]] and [[Jeremy Seekings]], "His strategy for the clothing sector became the model for labour market and industrial policy generally."<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Nattrass |first=Nicoli |url=https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Inclusive_Dualism.html?id=3N2ZDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y |title=Inclusive Dualism: Labour-intensive Development, Decent Work, and Surplus Labour in Southern Africa |last2=Seekings |first2=Jeremy |date=2019-05-29 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-257847-1 |language=en}}</ref> Particularly influential was SACTWU's decision, under Patel, to pursue the development of a lucrative investment wing. Through chief executive Johnny Copelyn, SACTWU obtained a large stake in [[Hosken Consolidated Investments]] (HCI), which became a multi-billion-[[South African rand|rand]] company; unlike Copelyn, Patel did not personally obtain shares in HCI.<ref name=":2" />
Patel became involved in worker and student struggles while at high school and led the student boycott of Fatti's and Monis products during a worker strike at the pasta factory in March 1979


More broadly, Patel "exerted considerable influence" while at SACTWU, both as a member of Cosatu's central executive committee<ref name="SACTWU" /> and through various [[Corporatism|corporatist]] forums and public bodies.<ref name=":14" /> After [[Nelson Mandela]] was released from prison in 1990, Patel was a member of the trade union delegation that welcomed him at his home in [[Soweto]],<ref name=":1" /> and in subsequent years, as [[Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|South Africa's democratic transition]] progressed, he remained involved in social and policy debate. He was centrally involved in the establishment of the National Economic Forum – for dialogue between business, labour, and government – and he later became the overall convenor for labour on the forum's successor body, the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC).<ref name=":1" /><ref name="SACTWU" /> In this capacity, Patel helped draft several key agreements and laws;<ref name="SACTWU" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite web |title=Ebrahim Patel, Mr |url=https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/ebrahim-patel-mr |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> in particular, he has been described as a "key architect" of the Labour Relations Act of 1995.<ref name=":14" /> He was also appointed by President Mandela to the inaugural Financial and Fiscal Commission,<ref name=":16" /> and he was the chief negotiator for the Framework Agreement on [[HIV/AIDS in South Africa|HIV/AIDS]] in 2002 to 2003 and for the National Textile Bargaining Council in 2003.<ref name=":1" />
During his first year at the University of the Western Cape in 1980, he was a leader in a nationwide student uprising that started in Cape Town. He was detained under Section 10 of the Internal Security Act and was kept for a number of months at Victor Verster prison in Paarl. He was released without being charged.


In the international arena, Patel was a longstanding member of the Workers' Group of the governing body of the [[International Labour Organization|International Labour Organisation]] (ILO), and he served as the group's global spokesperson on employment and [[social policy]]. He was also involved in negotiating and drafting several ILO policy documents.<ref name="SACTWU" /><ref name=":15" /> According to Nattrass and Seekings, he "helped to bring the ILO’s ideology of '[[decent work]]', with modifications, to South Africa."<ref name=":14" />
During this period, he was actively involved in anti-apartheid activities, from campaigns against the celebration of the old republic, to campaigns against the Coloured Representative Council and the tricameral parliament. He became involved in struggles over access to housing and electricity. He established community organisations in the Lotus River-Grassy Park-Parkwood area. He worked closely with activists from different areas including Trevor Manuel, who represented communities in Kensington-Factreton area, in the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee (CAHAC).

A year later, he was detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act and kept in detention initially at Caledon Square police station in Cape Town. After a number of months in detention, he was again released without being charged.

He was involved in building support for workers on strike at [[:de:Leyland Motor Corporation of South Africa|Leyland Motors]], as well as at Wilson-Rowntree, an Eastern Cape confectionery factory.

In 1982 he was detained on a third occasion and taken to Protea Police Station in Soweto.

He left university to work full-time at SALDRU, the research division of the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town in the first half of 1982 and completed his degree part-time at UCT shortly thereafter.

He was part of the inaugural meetings of the Cape Democratic Front and later the [[United Democratic Front (South Africa)|United Democratic Front]], where he served on the resolutions committee and represented the Lotus River/Grassy Park area.

While working at the University of Cape Town, he unionised fellow workers from 1983 and was elected a shop steward at the university and led the negotiations on wages and working conditions. Later he was elected General Secretary of the union and became involved with the union movement in Cape Town and took part in the debates and meetings that led to the formation of [[Cosatu]] in December 1985.

He also helped organise the nationwide anti-apartheid general strikes/stayaways that rocked the country during the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="SACTWU"/>

==Involvement with South African clothing and textile unions==

Patel joined the textile union, the National Union of Textile Workers (NUTW) as a full-time organiser in 1986, having worked on a voluntary basis with the auto, food and textile unions during his period at the School of Economics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apps.gcis.gov.za/gcis/gcis_profile.jsp?id=6431 |title=Footer |access-date=2012-11-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308122340/http://apps.gcis.gov.za/gcis/gcis_profile.jsp?id=6431 |archive-date=2016-03-08 }}</ref>

He has concluded hundreds of recognition, wage and other collective agreements over the period of more than two decades. His work in the clothing, textile and footwear industry resulted in the formation of a national bargaining council in the clothing sector and later in the textile sector. He worked to improve productivity and competitiveness at a number of enterprises while retaining and expanding the rights of workers. These included work with Levi's Strauss and the largest clothing company, the Seardel Group which employs 14 000 workers. He has served on the Board of Zenzeleni Clothing, a clothing company set up by the trade union in 1988 to help employ retrenched workers and which is still in operation, employing about 120 workers. He played a key role in 2008 in saving the Seardel Group from bankruptcy through raising a R250 million capital-injection and a change in the ownership and control of the company.

He worked with his predecessor, [[Johnny Copelyn]], in setting up a union-investment company that has grown to be the largest union-controlled one in South Africa. It is now a multi-billion{{clarify|date=July 2016}} company whose proceeds help to fund bursaries for children of union members and a range of social programmes. The union now issues bursaries to more than 700 students (the children of members of the union) a year and spends more than R3m in grants to students at tertiary institutions. During his period as head of the union, the organisation also set up the largest union-controlled HIV programme in the world, which provides education to members, training to workplace representatives, voluntary counselling and testing to about 10 000 workers a year and support for home-based carers.<ref name="SACTWU"/>

==Labour activism from the 1990s onwards==

Patel was a member of the first trade union delegation that met Nelson Mandela at his home in Soweto after his release from prison in 1990.

During his period in the labour movement, he led organised labour in key policy and legislative negotiations. He also led negotiations on matters like access for low-income citizens to banking, supply of water to rural areas, HIV codes at the workplace and national positions on trade policy.

He was the lead negotiator in 1993 in the National Economic Forum that put together an interim plan on jobs and combating customs fraud as well as promoting a new framework for small enterprise development.

He was appointed to lead the three labour federations (Cosatu, Nactu and Fedusa) as Overall Labour Convenor in Nedlac at its formation. In this position, he worked closely with Kgalema Motlanthe, then General Secretary of the [[National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa)|NUM]], as well as Mbhazima Shilowa, then General Secretary of Cosatu, as part of the labour team at Nedlac.

He led the negotiations for organised labour that resulted in the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

He was also the lead negotiator for organised labour at the 1998 Presidential Jobs Summit convened by President Mandela and at the Growth and Development Summit convened by President Mbeki in 2004, both of which resulted in key policy documents being agreed.

He has served on the central executive committee of Cosatu for almost two decades and has represented Cosatu widely in negotiations and policy discussions.

During the late 1980s, he led the Cosatu campaign on a Workers' Charter that laid the basis for the workers' rights clauses in the South African Bill of Rights in our constitution. He was also part of the Cosatu team that negotiated the language of the labour rights clauses in the constitution with the ANC during the Constitutional Assembly discussions that led to the adoption of the country's new constitution.

He was part of the drafting team in 1993 that put together the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) that was the ANC's election manifesto during the historic 1994 elections that led to the establishment of democracy. In 2009 he was again part of the team that finalised the 2009 ANC Manifesto and contributed with his colleagues in the formulation (among others) of the decent work conception of the Manifesto.

His most recent tripartite negotiations were the conclusion of the Framework for South Africa's Response to the International Economic Crisis, adopted by Nedlac in February 2009.

He has travelled extensively to promote decent work across the world and has spoken at several major business and union conferences.<ref name="SACTWU"/>

=== Involvement at the ILO ===
He has served on the Governing Body of the UN tripartite body, the [[International Labour Organization]] (ILO), most recently as the vice-chairperson of the Workers Group. He was global spokesperson for organised labour on employment and social policy and used to be spokesperson on multinational enterprises.

He led the negotiations at the ILO on a number of key policy and legal instruments. For example, he led negotiations for - and co-drafted - the ILO's Global Employment Agenda, which contributed to international efforts to promote decent work, to tackle unemployment and the employment growth challenge.

He also co-drafted the groundbreaking Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation, a key ILO document adopted unanimously by 180 governments and the global representatives of employers and workers. The document sets out the mandate of the ILO in the context of globalisation and identifies the components of decent work, a concept that now has universal resonance. It sets out a vision for a modern effective ILO and lists the key steps governments can take to promote decent work.

Furthermore, he made the proposal that led eventually to the Global Wage Report, a flagship publication of the ILO. He also led the labour team in the negotiation and drafting of two key ILO international labour standards: the Recommendation on the Employment Relationship and the Recommendation on Co-operatives. He was the chief spokesperson for labour in the ILO in the discussion that led to the Conclusions on the Scope of the Employment Relationship and the Conclusions on Human Resource Development.<ref name="SACTWU"/>

He received the Global Leaders of Tomorrow award from the Davos-based Global Economic Forum in 1994.
<ref name="SACTWU" />

=== Other international labour advocacy activities ===
He was part of the South African delegation at several ministerial meetings of the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO), including at Singapore, Seattle – which he attended together with Zwelinzima Vavi, head of Cosatu – and Geneva.

In 2009, he led the labour engagement with government leaders as part of the preparations for the G20 Summit, when a small global labour team met with Presidents [[Kgalema Motlanthe|Motlanthe]] (South Africa) and [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva|Lula]] (Brazil), Prime Ministers [[Gordon Brown]] (UK) and [[Kevin Rudd]] (Australia) and the heads of the [[International Monetary Fund]] ([[Dominique Strauss Kahn]]) and WTO ([[Pascal Lamy]]). Following its deliberations, the summit agreed to a combination of economic stimuli measures and greater regulation of financial markets.<ref name="SACTWU"/>

=== Other relevant positions ===
He was nominated by President Mandela to serve on the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) during its first term. He has served on a number of other public bodies, including the Council for Higher Education (CHE), the Council of the University of Cape Town (UCT), the governing Board of the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the board of Proudly SA. He was a labour representative on the Presidential Working Group and on the business-labour Millennium Labour Council (MLC). He has been an executive council member of Nedlac since its formation in 1995. He also served on a joint committee of the Judicial Services Commission and Nedlac to interview applicants for posts to the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court.<ref name="SACTWU" />

=== SACTWU: 1986–2009 ===
⚫
In 1986, he joined the [[National Union of Textile Workers (South Africa)|National Union of Textile Workers]], a large Cosatu affiliate which ultimately became the [[Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union|Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union']] (SACTWU).<ref name=":1" /> He deputised [[Johnny Copelyn]] as the union's assistant secretary-general until 1993,'''<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=25 June 2020 |title=Ebrahim Patel: The man behind the mask |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/cover-story/2020-06-25-ebrahim-patel-the-man-behind-the-mask/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Financial Mail |language=en-ZA}}</ref>''' when he was elected to succeed Copelyn as secretary-general.<ref name=":1" />


==Minister of Economic Development: 2009–2019==
==Minister of Economic Development: 2009–2019==
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=== Investment and industry ===
=== Investment and industry ===
Patel represented South Africa at [[BRICS]] summits and at the [[World Economic Forum]] in [[Davos]], and he chaired the preparatory committee for South Africa's inaugural Presidential Investment Conference in October 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-29 |title=Minister Ebrahim Patel |url=http://www.thedtic.gov.za/minister/,%20http://www.thedtic.gov.za/minister/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition |language=en-US}}</ref> Domestically, he encouraged the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) – one of the agencies under his oversight – to increase its support for [[industrialisation]], particularly in the [[Manufacturing in South Africa|manufacturing sector]], and to "increase its risk appetite".<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 2013 |title='IDC created 19,000 jobs' |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/business/2013-09-09-idc-created-19000-jobs/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}}</ref> He also oversaw the establishment of the IDC's Small Enterprise Finance Agency in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 April 2012 |title=Small business funding agency launched |url=https://www.news24.com/fin24/small-business-funding-agency-launched-20120423 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref>
Patel represented South Africa at [[BRICS]] summits and at the [[World Economic Forum]] in [[Davos]], and he chaired the preparatory committee for South Africa's inaugural Presidential Investment Conference in October 2018.<ref name=":16">{{Cite web |date=2019-03-29 |title=Minister Ebrahim Patel |url=http://www.thedtic.gov.za/minister/,%20http://www.thedtic.gov.za/minister/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition |language=en-US}}</ref> Domestically, he encouraged the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) – one of the agencies under his oversight – to increase its support for [[industrialisation]], particularly in the [[Manufacturing in South Africa|manufacturing sector]], and to "increase its risk appetite".<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 2013 |title='IDC created 19,000 jobs' |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/business/2013-09-09-idc-created-19000-jobs/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}}</ref> He also oversaw the establishment of the IDC's Small Enterprise Finance Agency in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 April 2012 |title=Small business funding agency launched |url=https://www.news24.com/fin24/small-business-funding-agency-launched-20120423 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref>


Aiming to promote local industrialisation, Patel issued a controversial trade-policy directive that enforced a mandatory price-preference across foundries and steel mills on scrap metal collected inside South Africa. Metal exporters challenged the policy unsuccessfully in the [[High Court of South Africa|High Court]] and [[Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)|Supreme Court of Appeal]], and the [[Constitutional Court of South Africa|Constitutional Court]] denied them leave to appeal in 2017, allowing the policy to be upheld.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Omarjee |first=Lameez |date=14 August 2017 |title=ConCourt ends four year scrap metal legal battle |url=https://www.news24.com/fin24/concourt-ends-four-year-scrap-metal-legal-battle-20170814 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref>'''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-15 |title=Minister welcomes scrap metal court ruling |url=https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/minister-welcomes-scrap-metal-court-ruling |access-date=2019-05-21 |website=South African Government News Agency |language=en}}</ref>'''
Aiming to promote local industrialisation, Patel issued a controversial trade-policy directive that enforced a mandatory price-preference across foundries and steel mills on scrap metal collected inside South Africa. Metal exporters challenged the policy unsuccessfully in the [[High Court of South Africa|High Court]] and [[Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)|Supreme Court of Appeal]], and the [[Constitutional Court of South Africa|Constitutional Court]] denied them leave to appeal in 2017, allowing the policy to be upheld.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Omarjee |first=Lameez |date=14 August 2017 |title=ConCourt ends four year scrap metal legal battle |url=https://www.news24.com/fin24/concourt-ends-four-year-scrap-metal-legal-battle-20170814 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref>'''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-15 |title=Minister welcomes scrap metal court ruling |url=https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/minister-welcomes-scrap-metal-court-ruling |access-date=2019-05-21 |website=South African Government News Agency |language=en}}</ref>'''
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By the time the bill was introduced, Patel already had a reputation for his strong interpretation of the Competition Act, and particularly of the so-called public interest clause, which licensed the consideration of "public policy objectives" in assessing prospective [[Mergers and acquisitions|mergers]]. The clause was rarely applied until 2011, when Patel used it to intervene in [[Walmart]]'s multi-billion-[[South African rand|rand]] bid to acquire [[Massmart]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=18 August 2022 |title=Overreach for success — has the Competition Commission gone too far? |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/cover-story/2022-08-18-overreach-for-success--has-the-competition-commission-gone-too-far/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Financial Mail |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Though the Competition Commission approved a R16.5-billion deal, Patel's ministry challenged the decision in the Competition Appeal Court, arguing that the merger could lead to increased imports and therefore to job losses inside South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-08-02 |title=Ministers say Walmart-Massmart merger poses a risk |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-08-02-ministers-say-walmartmassmart-merger-poses-a-risk/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Sources told the ''Mail & Guardian'' that Patel's activism was likely motivated by his desire to show loyalty to the trade union movement, even at the risk of appearing hostile to [[foreign direct investment]];<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-05-13 |title=Patel walks protectionist tightrope |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-05-13-patel-walks-protectionist-tightrope/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> the [[South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union|South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union]] had threatened to go on strike to protest the acquisition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-11-15 |title=Panel to advise Patel on Walmart, Massmart deal |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2010-11-15-panel-to-advise-patel-on-walmart-massmart-deal/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> When the Massmart deal was concluded, it included protections for South African jobs and other [[Corporate social responsibility|social responsibility]] commitments, such as contributions to a local business-development fund.<ref name=":2" />
By the time the bill was introduced, Patel already had a reputation for his strong interpretation of the Competition Act, and particularly of the so-called public interest clause, which licensed the consideration of "public policy objectives" in assessing prospective [[Mergers and acquisitions|mergers]]. The clause was rarely applied until 2011, when Patel used it to intervene in [[Walmart]]'s multi-billion-[[South African rand|rand]] bid to acquire [[Massmart]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=18 August 2022 |title=Overreach for success — has the Competition Commission gone too far? |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/cover-story/2022-08-18-overreach-for-success--has-the-competition-commission-gone-too-far/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Financial Mail |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Though the Competition Commission approved a R16.5-billion deal, Patel's ministry challenged the decision in the Competition Appeal Court, arguing that the merger could lead to increased imports and therefore to job losses inside South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-08-02 |title=Ministers say Walmart-Massmart merger poses a risk |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-08-02-ministers-say-walmartmassmart-merger-poses-a-risk/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Sources told the ''Mail & Guardian'' that Patel's activism was likely motivated by his desire to show loyalty to the trade union movement, even at the risk of appearing hostile to [[foreign direct investment]];<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-05-13 |title=Patel walks protectionist tightrope |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-05-13-patel-walks-protectionist-tightrope/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> the [[South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union|South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union]] had threatened to go on strike to protest the acquisition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-11-15 |title=Panel to advise Patel on Walmart, Massmart deal |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2010-11-15-panel-to-advise-patel-on-walmart-massmart-deal/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> When the Massmart deal was concluded, it included protections for South African jobs and other [[Corporate social responsibility|social responsibility]] commitments, such as contributions to a local business-development fund.<ref name=":2" />




According to the ''Financial Mail'', the Massmart deal set a precedent for public-interest negotiations ahead of major mergers and acquisitions.<ref name=":6" /> Public-interest conditions were subsequently applied to deals by [[Coca-Cola]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-05-10 |title=South Africa approves SABMiller, Coke bottling deal with conditions |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sabmiller-cocacola-safrica-idUSKCN0Y11XR |access-date=2023-07-15}}</ref> [[AB InBev]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 April 2016 |title=Government on public interest commitments in proposed acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev |url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/government-public-interest-commitments-proposed-acquisition-sabmiller-ab-inbev-16-apr-2016 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> [[Sinopec]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 January 2018 |title=South Africa reaches agreement on potential acquisition of control of Chevron South Africa by Chinese company Sinopec |url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/south-african-government-reaches-agreement-public-interest-issues-potential-acquisition |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> and [[Old Mutual]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-06-08 |title=Slimline Old Mutual heads home |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-06-08-00-slimline-old-mutual-heads-home/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> among others. Patel later denied that he used competition policy to justify state intervention in the economy, saying:<blockquote>In the case of [South Africa], given our twin challenges to increase the rate of [[Economic growth|growth]] ''and'' to make that growth more inclusive, it's unavoidable that competition will grapple with more than just the traditional concerns around transactions.<ref name=":6" /></blockquote>
According to the ''Financial Mail'', the Massmart deal set a precedent for public-interest negotiations ahead of major mergers and acquisitions.<ref name=":6" /> Public-interest conditions were subsequently applied to deals by [[Coca-Cola]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-05-10 |title=South Africa approves SABMiller, Coke bottling deal with conditions |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sabmiller-cocacola-safrica-idUSKCN0Y11XR |access-date=2023-07-15}}</ref> [[AB InBev]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 April 2016 |title=Government on public interest commitments in proposed acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev |url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/government-public-interest-commitments-proposed-acquisition-sabmiller-ab-inbev-16-apr-2016 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> [[Sinopec]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 January 2018 |title=South Africa reaches agreement on potential acquisition of control of Chevron South Africa by Chinese company Sinopec |url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/south-african-government-reaches-agreement-public-interest-issues-potential-acquisition |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=South African Government}}</ref> and [[Old Mutual]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-06-08 |title=Slimline Old Mutual heads home |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-06-08-00-slimline-old-mutual-heads-home/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> among others. Patel later denied that he used competition policy to justify state intervention in the economy, saying:<blockquote>In the case of [South Africa], given our twin challenges to increase the rate of [[Economic growth|growth]] ''and'' to make that growth more inclusive, it's unavoidable that competition will grapple with more than just the traditional concerns around transactions.<ref name=":6" /></blockquote>

Revision as of 16:09, 15 July 2023

The Honourable
Ebrahim Patel
MP
Patel at the World Economic Forum in 2011
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 May 2019
PresidentCyril Ramaphosa
DeputyFikile Majola
Nomalungelo Gina
Preceded byRob Davies
Member of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 March 2023
In office
21 May 2014 – 7 May 2019
Minister of Economic Development
In office
11 May 2009 – 29 May 2019
PresidentJacob Zuma
Cyril Ramaphosa
Preceded byMinistry established
Succeeded byMinistry abolished
Personal details
Born (1962-01-01) 1 January 1962 (age 63)
District Six, Cape Town
Cape Province, South Africa
Political party
Children3
Alma materUniversity of the Western Cape
University of Cape Town[1]
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Anti-apartheid activist
  • Labour movement leader
  • Shop steward
    (formerly)
ProfessionEconomist

Ebrahim Patel (born 1 January 1962) is a South African cabinet minister who holds the position of Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition. He previously served as Minister of Economic Development from 2009 to 2019.

Early life and activism

Patel was born on 1 January 1962[2] in District Six in Cape Town.[3] He grew up in Lansdowne and Grassy Park and was raised by a single mother, who was a garment worker.[3][4] He became involved in political activism while at high school during the height of apartheid in the 1970s.[3]

In 1980, he enrolled at the University of the Western Cape, where he continued his political organising – he was arrested and detained without charge on three separate occasions between 1980 and 1982.[3] In 1982, he left the University of the Western Cape to take up a full-time position at the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, an economics research institute at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He continued studying for his bachelor's degree part-time and graduated later from UCT.[3]

Patel joined the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front in 1983, representing the Lotus River–Grassy Park area, and he was active in related civic organisations, including the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee.[3] However, his foremost political engagement was through the burgeoning trade union movement. Having been involved in supporting strikes during his earlier years as a student, he helped unionise university employees in the Cape Province while he was at UCT;[4][5] in 1985, he was elected as the inaugural general secretary of the university union that was established as part of the initiative.[3] Also in 1985, he took part in the meetings that led to the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which went on to play a central role in opposition to apartheid.[3]

Clothing and textile unions: 1986–2009

In 1986, Patel became a full-time organiser for the National Union of Textile Workers, a large Cosatu affiliate which ultimately became the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union' (SACTWU).[3][5] He deputised Johnny Copelyn as SACTWU's assistant secretary-general until 1993,[4] when he was elected to succeed Copelyn as secretary-general.[3]

According to Nicoli Nattrass and Jeremy Seekings, "His strategy for the clothing sector became the model for labour market and industrial policy generally."[6] Particularly influential was SACTWU's decision, under Patel, to pursue the development of a lucrative investment wing. Through chief executive Johnny Copelyn, SACTWU obtained a large stake in Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), which became a multi-billion-rand company; unlike Copelyn, Patel did not personally obtain shares in HCI.[4]

More broadly, Patel "exerted considerable influence" while at SACTWU, both as a member of Cosatu's central executive committee[5] and through various corporatist forums and public bodies.[6] After Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Patel was a member of the trade union delegation that welcomed him at his home in Soweto,[3] and in subsequent years, as South Africa's democratic transition progressed, he remained involved in social and policy debate. He was centrally involved in the establishment of the National Economic Forum – for dialogue between business, labour, and government – and he later became the overall convenor for labour on the forum's successor body, the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC).[3][5] In this capacity, Patel helped draft several key agreements and laws;[5][7] in particular, he has been described as a "key architect" of the Labour Relations Act of 1995.[6] He was also appointed by President Mandela to the inaugural Financial and Fiscal Commission,[8] and he was the chief negotiator for the Framework Agreement on HIV/AIDS in 2002 to 2003 and for the National Textile Bargaining Council in 2003.[3]

In the international arena, Patel was a longstanding member of the Workers' Group of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and he served as the group's global spokesperson on employment and social policy. He was also involved in negotiating and drafting several ILO policy documents.[5][7] According to Nattrass and Seekings, he "helped to bring the ILO’s ideology of 'decent work', with modifications, to South Africa."[6]

Minister of Economic Development: 2009–2019

In the immediate aftermath of the 2009 general election, the Mail & Guardian reported that Cosatu had asked newly elected President Jacob Zuma to appoint Patel as a cabinet minister, in order to increase the union's representation in government.[9] When Zuma announced his cabinet the following week, on 10 May, Patel was appointed to a newly created portfolio as Minister of Economic Development.[10] In order to take up the ministerial position, he vacated his SACTWU office and was succeeded by his former deputy, André Kriel.[11]

Patel was Minister of Economic Development throughout Zuma's two terms as president, and he was retained in the cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced Zuma in February 2018.[12] In addition, in the 2014 general election, he joined the National Assembly as a representative of the African National Congress (ANC).[13]

Government politics

Ministerial mandate

Patel's ministerial tenure began with a series of media reports pointing to tension in the cabinet, the result of the unclear mandate and jurisdiction of Patel's newly created ministry. In particular, he reportedly clashed with Trevor Manuel, Zuma's Minister in the Presidency with responsibility for national planning.[14][15] Leftists in the Tripartite Alliance apparently wanted Patel, rather than Manuel, to be appointed at the head of the National Planning Commission.[16] In addition, tensions apparently arose because Patel publicly asserted authority over "micro- and macroeconomic development planning", a function that the Public Finance Management Act delegated to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.[17]

According to the Mail & Guardian, the tensions were partly reflective of "the larger battle over South Africa’s economic policy direction".[14][16] Because of his union associations, Patel was viewed as a representative of the left in the cabinet;[18][10] indeed, he was sometimes wrongly identified as a senior member of the South African Communist Party,[19] though in fact he had never been a member.[4] In this perspective, Patel's leftist affiliation set him apart from – and in competition with – moderate figures such as Manuel, Gordhan, and their respective supporters.[14][20]

Officials inside the government said that Patel would be responsible for "broad-brush economic development planning", providing long-term strategic input into the national economic policy developed and implemented by the National Treasury.[17] However, at the end of Zuma's first term in 2014, the Mail & Guardian observed that Patel still had "one marked flaw: nobody knows what he does."[21]

Canyon Springs inquiry

In December 2011, Patel's deputy, former trade unionist Enoch Godongwana, resigned from the ministry amid the scandal surrounding an inquiry into the liquidation of Canyon Springs, a private investment company that was half-owned by Godongwana's family trust and of which Godongwana was a former director. SACTWU had pursued the inquiry on the basis that several hundred-million rands in SACTWU pension funds had been invested in Canyon Springs and subsequently lost, amid alleged embezzlement and fraud.[22][23] Because he had been general-secretary of the union at the time the investment was made, Patel was initially summoned to testify at the inquiry,[24] though he was later excused.[25]

Patel said that he had no knowledge of or authority over SACWTU's provident investments (which were managed by trustees, rather than union officials),[22] and Godongwana denied that his resignation was related to the scandal, but the Mail & Guardian nonetheless said that the saga had damaged the reputation of Patel's department.[23]

Response to state capture

Patel's term as Minister of Economic Development coincided with alleged state capture of the Zuma administration by sectional interests, and in particular by Zuma's allies in the Gupta family. In the Financial Mail's phrase, Patel "toed the party line in supporting Zuma" during his presidency.[4] Indeed, Zuma reportedly held Patel in high regard.[26][27]

As part of efforts to strengthen governance and avoid the impact of improper corporate influence or state capture over public entities, he directed the IDC to review its dealings with Oakbay Resources, a company the IDC had funded and which was majority-owned by the Gupta family, which led to litigation by the IDC against the company. In March 2016, he requested the IDC to review its dealings with Oakbay. In October 2016, he requested the IDC Board to review its policy on public disclosure of clients and asked that the information on all clients supported by the IDC, including politically exposed persons, be made publicly available, a decision that was implemented during the first half of 2017. In July 2017 he directed the IDC to replace its auditors KPMG, a company that had become embroiled in the state capture saga. In 2017 he requested the IDC to appoint respected Advocate Geoff Budlender to review the IDC relationship with Oakbay.[28] The IDC became the first public entity thereafter to litigate against a company owned by the Gupta family, a group of brothers who became synonymous with state capture and corruption in South Africa.[29]  

In 2016, he called on workers at the National Congress of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU) to fight corruption and state capture,[30] the first such call made by a Cabinet Minister at a trade union Conference. In September 2017, he publicly released the results of a modeling study on the cost of corruption and state capture in the infrastructure space, stating it could cost the economy R27 billion annually and result in at least 76 000 jobs foregone in the economy.[31]  This was the first official estimate that was made during the period when Jacob Zuma was still President of South Africa.

New Growth Path

Patel in December 2011

In November 2010, in the wake of a global economic crisis, Patel published the New Growth Path, a policy framework which set out an expanded role for the state in job creation. The framework set a highly ambitious target: the creation of five million jobs over the next decade, to be achieved through a mixture of macroeconomic and microeconomic "job drivers". Among other things, the plan proposed a broad wage accord between business and labour, inflation-linked salary caps, looser monetary policy, and investments by pension funds in developmental projects.[32] Some commentators observed a disconnect between Patel's plan and the policy and budget of the National Treasury; for example, the New Growth Path omitted mention of the R6 billion in youth employment subsidies proposed by the Treasury.[33] Business Unity South Africa disagreed with the job-creation target, criticised the government for "too much talk and little action" in various competing economic policy initiatives, and published a host of counter-proposals.[34]

In line with the New Growth Path, Patel led discussions between government and social partners that led to five different "social accords", including agreements on skills development and the development of a green economy.[35][36] The Mail & Guardian later described the accords as "so forgettable that only a handful of South Africans can remember their details".[37] He also told the National Council of Provinces that all government departments regarded 2011 as "a year of job creation".[38] However, at the end of 10 years, the job-creation target was not achieved: the economy added 2.7 million jobs by 2020, though a further 2.4 million unemployed people entered the workforce over the same period.[4] In an interview with the Financial Mail in June 2020, Patel said that state capture was partly responsible for the missed target, explaining:

Well, there was more than one reason we didn't achieve it. One of the biggest constraints was that the state was unable to do the things that a dynamic, efficient state would do since so many resources were sucked out of it. It wasn't just the money – though that was enormous. It was also the loss of vision, because state capture did what any corruption does, it distorts decision-making.[4]

Investment and industry

Patel represented South Africa at BRICS summits and at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and he chaired the preparatory committee for South Africa's inaugural Presidential Investment Conference in October 2018.[8] Domestically, he encouraged the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) – one of the agencies under his oversight – to increase its support for industrialisation, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and to "increase its risk appetite".[39] He also oversaw the establishment of the IDC's Small Enterprise Finance Agency in 2012.[40]

Aiming to promote local industrialisation, Patel issued a controversial trade-policy directive that enforced a mandatory price-preference across foundries and steel mills on scrap metal collected inside South Africa. Metal exporters challenged the policy unsuccessfully in the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal, and the Constitutional Court denied them leave to appeal in 2017, allowing the policy to be upheld.[41][42]

Competition

In 2017, Patel's ministry published the draft Competition Amendment Bill, which passed in 2018 and effected a range of changes to competition law in South Africa. Patel said that the overwhelming objective of the legislation was to promote economic inclusion by mitigating market concentration and rectifying racial inequalities of ownership. Among other things, it expanded the powers and mandate of the Competition Commission.[43][44]

By the time the bill was introduced, Patel already had a reputation for his strong interpretation of the Competition Act, and particularly of the so-called public interest clause, which licensed the consideration of "public policy objectives" in assessing prospective mergers. The clause was rarely applied until 2011, when Patel used it to intervene in Walmart's multi-billion-rand bid to acquire Massmart.[45] Though the Competition Commission approved a R16.5-billion deal, Patel's ministry challenged the decision in the Competition Appeal Court, arguing that the merger could lead to increased imports and therefore to job losses inside South Africa.[46] Sources told the Mail & Guardian that Patel's activism was likely motivated by his desire to show loyalty to the trade union movement, even at the risk of appearing hostile to foreign direct investment;[47] the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union had threatened to go on strike to protest the acquisition.[48] When the Massmart deal was concluded, it included protections for South African jobs and other social responsibility commitments, such as contributions to a local business-development fund.[4]

According to the Financial Mail, the Massmart deal set a precedent for public-interest negotiations ahead of major mergers and acquisitions.[45] Public-interest conditions were subsequently applied to deals by Coca-Cola,[49] AB InBev,[50] Sinopec,[51] and Old Mutual,[52] among others. Patel later denied that he used competition policy to justify state intervention in the economy, saying:

In the case of [South Africa], given our twin challenges to increase the rate of growth and to make that growth more inclusive, it's unavoidable that competition will grapple with more than just the traditional concerns around transactions.[45]

Infrastructure

As minister, Patel headed the secretariat of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), which oversaw Zuma's R1-trillion national infrastructure plan.[53][54] To facilitate the commission's work, Patel's department introduced the Infrastructure Development Act, which passed in 2014. However, the commission was criticised for lacklustre oversight of the "skyrocketing costs and delays" associated with the construction of three new power stations, Medupi, Kusile and Ingula.[55] Moreover, investment in public infrastructure declined during Zuma's second term, which Patel attributed partly to state-owned entities, where there had been, in his summation, "weakened governance, impaired balance sheets and shift in focus... ascribed to state capture and corruption".[56] In 2018, President Ramaphosa announced his own fiscal stimulus package, underpinned by major infrastructure investment and overseen by the PICC.[56]

Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition: 2019–present

When President Ramaphosa announced his second cabinet on 29 May 2019, Patel was appointed as Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, with Fikile Majola and Nomalungelo Gina as his deputies.[57] His new ministry amalgamated the Ministry of Trade and Industry, formerly under Rob Davies, with Patel's former Economic Development portfolio. Patel was initially appointed to the cabinet from outside Parliament, because, ranked 137th on the party list, he lost his parliamentary seat in the May 2019 general election.[13] However, toward the end of the legislative term, on 6 March 2023, he was sworn in to the National Assembly, filling a casual vacancy.[58][59]

Industrial and trade policy

At the outset of Ramaphosa's new administration in 2019, he and Patel emphasised their focus on driving economic growth through a new industrial strategy, which Patel said would rely on private–public partnership and stimulating private investment.[60] Patel has said that he supports state intervention in the economy when it creates a better "social outcome", and that in general he favours Mariana Mazzucato's notion of an entrepreneurial state.[4]

A cornerstone of the ministry's policy has been so-called sectoral "master plans", detailing complex industrial and trade strategies for seven key South African industries, with a focus on promoting industrialisation and, by improving local competitiveness, localisation.[61][62] Industries covered by master plans include poultry (signed in November 2019);[63] textiles and clothing (November 2019);[64] sugar (November 2020);[65] and steel and metal fabrication (June 2021).[66] Insofar as they include localisation measures, the plans have been criticised as protectionist.[67] The process for developing the master plans has been criticised as opaque and biased towards the interests of large companies.[62] In addition, in a lengthy analysis published in January 2023, the Mail & Guardian concluded that Patel's ministry had struggled to ensure organisational stability in its 17 agencies after the 2019 ministerial merger, detracting from Patel's attention to industrial policy.[68]

Patel is known as a supporter of worker representation in shareholding and management. In May 2021, he announced a plan to amend the Companies Act to require companies to disclose executive salaries and pay differentials.[69] In this vein, he has continued his earlier practice of vigorously applying the Competition Act's public interest provisions, frequently intervening in mergers and acquisitions.[45][70] For example, he intervened in PepsiCo's acquisition of Pioneer Foods to ensure that PepsiCo agreed to certain public interest conditions for the deal, including shareholding for a locally held workers' trust and various other local empowerment initiatives.[71]

In the realm of international trade, Patel has been an outspoken supporter of South African participation in the American African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme, saying in May 2023 that, amid deteriorating relations with the United States, South Africa "should do everything possible" to retain its AGOA benefits.[72]

Covid-19 pandemic

See also: COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

During the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the lockdown regulations published by Patel's ministry were derided as illogical and absurdly statist. They included rules prohibiting e-commerce, prohibiting the sale of cooked food at grocery stores, and restricting clothing retailers to sales of a state-approved list of products.[4][73] Patel became, in the summation of the Financial Mail, the "bogeyman of the anti-lockdown brigade... held up as the poster-child of the 'irrational' Covid-19 rules".[4] However, at the end of 2020, News24 complimented the work of the Competition Commission, one of the agencies overseen by Patel, for its activist response to price gouging in sales of Covid-19 personal protective equipment; among other things, the commission fined Dis-Chem R1.2 million for overpricing surgical masks.[61]

During the pandemic, Patel contracted Covid-19 twice, testing positive on 25 July 2020[74] and (two weeks after President Ramaphosa's own diagnosis) on 28 December 2021.[75]

Books

He has edited three books: Engine of Development?: South Africa's National Economic Forum (1993) on the National Economic Forum; Worker Rights: From Apartheid To Democracy – What Role for Organised Labour (1994) on workers' rights in post-apartheid South Africa; and, with Justin Yifu Lin and Joseph Stiglitz, The Industrial Policy Revolution II: Africa in the Twenty-first Century (2013) on industrialisation in Africa.[2]

Personal life

Patel is married and has three children.[3] He is Muslim.[76]

References

  1. ^ "Ebrahim Patel". People's Assembly.
  2. ^ a b "Ebrahim Patel, Mr". South African Government. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Vahed, Goolam H. (2012). "Ebrahim Patel (1962–)". Muslim Portraits: The Anti-apartheid Struggle. Durban, South Africa. pp. 308–309. ISBN 1-874945-25-X. OCLC 858966865.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Ebrahim Patel: The man behind the mask". Financial Mail. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (12 May 2009). "Ebrahim Patel: The SACTWU biography". Politicsweb. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d Nattrass, Nicoli; Seekings, Jeremy (29 May 2019). Inclusive Dualism: Labour-intensive Development, Decent Work, and Surplus Labour in Southern Africa. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-257847-1.
  7. ^ a b "Ebrahim Patel, Mr". South African Government. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Minister Ebrahim Patel". The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Cosatu clamours for jobs". The Mail & Guardian. 2 May 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  10. ^ a b Bearak, Barry (11 May 2009). "New South African Leader Emphasizes Continuity in Cabinet Lineup". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  11. ^ "SACTWU welcomes Patel's appointment". Bizcommunity. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  12. ^ "The who's who of Cyril Ramaphosa's new Cabinet". Business Day. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Ebrahim Patel". People's Assembly. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  14. ^ a b c "Mascot ministers". The Mail & Guardian. 13 October 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  15. ^ "2009 Report Card: Part 2". The Mail & Guardian. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  16. ^ a b "2009 Report Card: Muddling along in the C class". The Mail & Guardian. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  17. ^ a b "No lurch to the left expected". The Mail & Guardian. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  18. ^ "New Cabinet seen as coup for the left". The Mail & Guardian. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  19. ^ "'No wrong in SACP holding state posts'". IOL. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  20. ^ "Take2: The minister of pencils". The Mail & Guardian. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Ebrahim Patel". Mail & Guardian: South African Cabinet Report Cards. 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  22. ^ a b "Godongwana denies quitting over R100m pension scandal". The Mail & Guardian. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  23. ^ a b "Godongwana resigns amid outrage". The Mail & Guardian. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
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