Madala Backson Masuku is the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Republic of South Africa, with effect from 26 May 2014. Mr Masukau holds an MCom degree in Leadership from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He also holds a Master?s degree in Public and Development Management from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and a postgraduate Diploma in Public Policy and Development Management from the Wits School of Public and Development Management in the Faculty of Management obtained in December 1996.
Mr Masuku completed a Provincial Government in Transition Executive Programme through Wits in 1994, and obtained a certificate of competence in Public Service Management, also from Wits. He also completed a three-week programme on change and performance management in the Public Sector Reform offered by the Civil Service College in the United Kingdom.
Mr Masuku has been Member of the Executive Council under various departments of the Mpumalanga provincial government, including the Department of Finance; the Department of Human Settlement; the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs; the Department of Public Works; the Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation; and the Department of Agriculture and Land Administration. He was also the head of Communication/Government spokesperson in the Mpumalanga Provincial Government, Premier’s Office, and he was the Mpumalanga Premier’s media coordinator from 1994 to 1995.
Mr Masuku also served as the organiser of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) from 1993 to 1994, developing a mobilisation, recruitment strategy and membership systems management. From 1990 to 1992, he was business manager for the Youth Education Trust, and from 1989 to 1990, he was a Maths and Science teacher.
From 1991 to 1997, Mr Masuku was a member of the provincial ANCYL executive structures; from 1993 to 1999 and from 2004 to 2012, he was a member of the ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC).
From 1992 to 2007, he served in the PEC structure of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and he has been a member of the Central Committee of the SACP since 2007.
