Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sexwale to head human settlements ministry

Tokyo Sexwale has been announced as the Minister of Human Settlements.

Announcing his new Cabinet on Sunday, President Jacob Zuma said the Department of Housing will be called the Department of Human Settlements to take on a more holistic focus.

Going through the list of those who will take up seats in his Cabinet, Mr Zuma said: "Minister of Human Settlements - Tokyo Sexwale."

A highly respected businessman, Mr Sexwale has held many senior positions in the African National Congress. He was imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island were he was expected to serve a life sentence.

As President of South Africa in 1994, Mr Mandela appointed Mr Sexwale as Premier of Gauteng.

In 1998 he left public office and entered the world of business. He formed Mvelapanda Group, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed BEE consortium.

He also serves on the board of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee.

Mr Sexwale was named Tokyo because he enjoyed karate as a youngster. - BuaNews

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2 comments:

Africannabis said...

Tokyo's old house address was 12 Sixth Street in Houghton but according to this article Tokyo recently bought a new place...

While world property markets droop, SA's recovering property prices continue to lag after missing out on the rest of the world's 15-year boom.

Tokyo Sexwale has bought a new home in Sandhurst, Johannesburg, from businessman Rob Dow for about R56m. It's a record price paid for an existing home by a South African. But an equivalent £4m or US$8,5m would buy a modest place in West London or mid town New York.

Typically, the deal was no sooner done than said around Johannesburg - despite being highly confidential. It's one of a half-dozen sales over the past couple of weeks in Sandhurst, Johannesburg's most expensive suburb, totalling over R200m.

Sexwale's purchase isn't the highest price paid for a new home in SA. Around the corner from Sexwale's new home, former Mvelaphanda executive Steve Levenberg demolished two houses in Coronation Road (next to King's) and built a R75m home in 2001.

In Oxford Avenue, also in Sandhurst, Congolese cellphone billionaire Miko Rwayitare is believed to have spent R100m on a Roman-style behemoth.

Not far away in Cleveland Road, investment banker Hugh Roberts expanded his 2 ha estate at a cost of about R100m. But these homes often sell for less than their cost.

The most expensive resale to a foreigner was R150m, which Scots businessman Lord Laidlaw paid for the manor house at Goede Hoop Estate in Cape Town.


Business Day
Friday, November 02, 2007
10:21:00 AM

Africannabis said...

The property, in Coronation Road, is a stone’s throw from the mansion bought two years ago by billionaire and newly appointed Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale for a reported R56-million.

- The Times