Zwelini Mkhize was born on 2 February 1956 in Willowfontein, Pietermaritzburg. He is the fifth child in a family of seven children. He completed his degree in medicine at the University of Natal at the age of 26. He completed his internship at the McCord Hospital in 1983. Mkhize found employment at the Edendale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg the following year. He was forced into exile in Swaziland but later settled in Zimbabwe. He returned to South Africa in 1991, and soon worked for the Themba Hospital in the former Eastern Transvaal.
Political career
Upon his return to South Africa in 1991, Mkhize began serving the African National Congress as a member of its national health secretariat.
After the 1994 election, Mkhize was appointed as the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health in 1994. He held the post for a decade, consequently becoming longest-serving health MEC in the country. In 2004, Mkhize was appointed the MEC for Finance and Economic Development in KwaZulu-Natal, whilst serving as the chairperson of the ANC's National Education and Health subcommittee. He was chosen on 30 April 2009 to be the ANC candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal. He was elected by the provincial legislature on 6 May after he defeated the DA's John Steenhuisen for the post. Mkhize received 68 votes compared to Steenhuisen's 7. He was elected the provincial chairperson of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal in 2008. He was re-elected to a second term as chair in 2012. He served as the chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal since 2009 until 2017.
Mkhize was elected as Treasurer General of ANC at the party's 53rd National Conference in December 2012. This post required the officeholder to work out of "Luthuli House," the ANC Headquarters as stated in the ANC Constitution 12.11 "Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General and the Treasurer General shall be full-time functionaries of the ANC." On 22 August 2013 Zweli Mkhize stepped down as Premier of KwaZulu-Natal stating, "After considering the workload associated with my two responsibilities, I have come to the conclusion that I need to spend more time fulfilling my responsibilities as the treasurer-general of the African National Congress." Mkhize would be based at ANC headquarters Luthuli House in Johannesburg full-time as from 1 September. On 18 December 2017, ANC Gauteng secretary Paul Mashatile was elected the new Treasurer General of the African National Congress at the 54th National conference.
National government
On 27 February 2018, Mkhize became the new minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, succeeding Des van Rooyen. He assumed the post of Health minister on 30 May 2019.
Presidential aspirations
In September 2017, Zweli Mkhize announced that he will accept the nomination to be the next President of the African National Congress at their December conference. He is known to play a unifying role in the party and has been vocal against factionalism in the ANC.
