Dr Molefi Sefularo, the Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa, is a distinguished leader in the community, academia and politics. His contribution to the struggle for the improvement of people's lives dates back to the 1970s as a youth in Potchefstroom and founder-member of AZASO, a fore-runner of the South African Students Congress (SASCO).
Dr Sefularo's active participation in various health NGOs, and formal studies at MEDUNSA, the Universities of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and Cape Town (UCT), at the Institute for Development Studies in Sussex, England and Harvard University (Boston, Massachusetts, USA), and the experience he accumulated as a lecturer at Wits, prepared him for work in the country's health sector. He remains active in the ANC health sector.
The Deputy Minister obtained the following qualifications:
He has served as a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly since 2004. He served in various parliamentary Committees including Trade and Industry, Transport, Foreign Affairs, and Health. As part of the caucus, he served as a Whip for both the Trade and Industry and Transport Study Groups. He also served on the Caucus Strategy Committee. As a Whip in the Economic Cluster, he also served on the Economic Transformation and the Political Education Sub Committees of the National Executive Council (NEC).
He is a former Member of the North West Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2004, and Deputy Chairperson of the ANC of North West. As a former Member of the Executive Council (MEC), he was responsible for the Reconstruction and Development Program, Transformation, Governance and Administration, Health, Social Development, Broadcasting and Communications. He served as a member of the Provincial Working Committee (PWC) from 1996 to 2000, Deputy Secretary from 2000 to 2005, as well as Deputy Chairperson of the ANC in the North West Province from 2005 to 2009.
His responsibilities, as Deputy Minister, focus on matters that are strategic, operational, national and sub-national in character, such as accelerating the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They also include delegations as they relate to the Ten Point Plan and priority areas for health - the Standards Compliance and Quality, District Health, Primary Health Care and Systems Strengthening, and aspects of Intergovernmental and International Relations.