Mr. Godfrey Oliphant, MP

Personal information

Mr. Godfrey Oliphant was sworn in as Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources on 1 November 2010.

Mr. Oliphant was born in Warrenton; a small town situated 70km on the north western side of Kimberley, in the Northern Cape.

He attended his primary school education at Warrenton and completed his Matric at Huhudi High School at Ganyesa in the Vryburg area of the North West Province. He later pursued further studies in Economics and still enjoys reading and running.

He became a Member of the first democratic Parliament in 1994 representing the ANC in the National Assembly. Held various positions including:

He was also a Member of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral and Energy, the Governance Committee and later became Chairperson of the ANC Chairpersons’ of Study Groups.

He travelled extensively around the world as a trade union representative and later as a Member of Parliament (MP)

National Positions held:

Former Vice President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and a Member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). He was also the Chairperson of the National Education Committee (NEDCOM) of COSATU. Currently a Member of the Central Committee (CC) of the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Province

At Provincial level, he was the Chairperson of COSATU for the Northern Cape and Free State region, and a member of the Regional Executive Committee (REC) of the NUM in the Northern Cape. A Full Time Shop Steward (FTSS) of the NUM for De Beers Consolidated Mines at Finsch Diamond Mine-Lime Acres.

After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 he was part of the Interim Leadership Core (ILC) of the ANC in the Province of the Northern Cape and was later elected to the position of Provincial Deputy Chairperson of the ANC (Northern Cape). He is currently a member of the Provincial Task Team (PTT) of the ANC in the North West Province.

Local / Branch

Over and above his civic movement activities, he was Branch Chairperson of the NUM at Finsch Mine, Chairperson of the SACP Branch of Warrenton and a member of the BEC of the ANC at Lime Acres. He was also Chairperson of the Finsch Branch Education Sub Committee (BRESCO) of the NUM.