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Leon Schreiber

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The Honourable
Leon Schreiber
MP
Schreiber in 2024
Minister of Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 July 2024
PresidentCyril Ramaphosa
DeputyNjabulo Nzuza
Preceded byAaron Motsoaledi
Member of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 May 2019
ConstituencyWestern Cape (2019–2024)
Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration
In office
22 May 2019 – 30 June 2024
DeputyMichéle Clarke
Mimmy Gondwe
LeaderJohn Steenhuisen
Mmusi Maimane
Preceded byDésirée van der Walt
Personal details
Born
Leon Amos Schreiber

(1988-09-11) 11 September 1988 (age 36)
Piketberg, Cape Province (now Western Cape), South Africa
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyDemocratic Alliance
EducationPaul Roos Gymnasium
Alma materStellenbosch University
Free University of Berlin (PhD)

Leon Amos Schreiber (born 11 September 1988) is a South African writer and politician who is currently serving as Minister of Home Affairs since 3 July 2024.[1] A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), he has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2019.

Before his appointment to the cabinet, he served in the shadow cabinet as Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration during the Sixth Parliament from May 2019 to June 2024. In that capacity he rose to prominence for his campaign against cadre deployment in the national government. He is also a prominent advocate for Afrikaans language rights at Stellenbosch University.

Early life and education

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Born on 11 September 1988 in Piketberg,[2] Schreiber grew up in Kleinzee, a small town in the Namakwa District of the Northern Cape Province.[3]

He matriculated in 2006 at the Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch.[3] Thereafter he attended Stellenbosch University, graduating with a BA in international studies in 2009, Honours in political science in 2010, and an MA in political science in 2011.[4]

Career in research

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In 2015, he completed a PhD in political science at the Free University of Berlin.[5] His dissertation was about social welfare institutions in South Africa and Brazil.[6] In the same year, he was the first runner-up in the St. Gallen Symposium Global Essay Competition for an essay about basic income guarantees.[7]

Between 2015 and 2019, Schreiber was attached to Princeton University, where he was a senior research specialist in the Innovations for Successful Societies programme.[8] His research interests included social policy, South African politics, the political economy of development, and, in particular, institution-building in low- and middle-income countries.[4] He later said that his political career grew from his recognition, through his research, of the importance of ethical political leadership in ensuring good governance.[5]

During this period, Schreiber was named as one of the Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans in 2017.[9] In 2018 he published Coalition Country: South Africa After the ANC, which predicted that the African National Congress (ANC) would lose its electoral majority.[10][11]

Political career

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Parliamentarian: 2019–2024

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In the May 2019 general election, Schreiber stood as a candidate for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). Ranked eighth on the party's regional list in the Western Cape constituency, he was elected to a seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament.[12] On 5 June, he was additionally appointed as Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration in the shadow cabinet of DA leader Mmusi Maimane.[13][14] He retained that position throughout the Sixth Parliament, gaining reappointment in the shadow cabinet of Maimane's successor, John Steenhuisen, in 2020.[15] The Mail & Guardian said that he became regarded as "one of [the] most effective members" of the DA's shadow cabinet.[16]

In his shadow cabinet portfolio, Schreiber represented the DA in the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration.[12] He was also appointed to the Section 194 Enquiry into Busisiwe Mkhwebane's impeachment as Public Protector.[17] In addition, in December 2021, he was appointed as one of the DA's 12 whips,[18] and on 21 April 2023, he was appointed as strategy and communications advisor to DA leader Steenhuisen.[19]

Schreiber during a New America seminar in May 2017

Cadre deployment

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As Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration, Schreiber was best known for his attacks on the cadre deployment policy of the governing ANC. In February 2021, he tabled a private member's bill, the Public Administration Laws General Amendment Bill, which the DA nicknamed the End Cadre Deployment Bill. Introduced by Schreiber during the State of the Nation Address debate,[20] it included several measures to enforce meritocracy in the public service, including criminal prohibitions against political interference in non-political appointments, prohibitions against holding political office while employed in the public service, and increased protections for the independence of the Public Service Commission. In September 2023, the bill was defeated in the National Assembly by 201 votes to 123, despite support from several other opposition parties. The ANC concurred with the Portfolio Committee on Public Service's finding that the bill conflicted with existing policy initiatives on the professionalisation of the public service.[21][22]

Meanwhile, in January 2022, the State Capture Commission published minutes of meetings of the ANC's internal cadre deployment committee. During a media briefing on 12 January 2022, Schreiber announced that the DA would submit formal complaints to the Public Service Commission on the basis that the minutes revealed party-political interference in public appointments.[23][24] Schreiber said that, based on the DA's analysis of the minutes, cadre deployment had continued "unabated" under the incumbent President, Cyril Ramaphosa.[25]

Schreiber also led the DA's campaign to gain access to further records from the ANC cadre deployment committee. After a prolonged court battle, the DA received the records in February 2024 pursuant to a Constitutional Court order in ANC v Schreiber. Schreiber congratulated his party on "piercing the ANC's veil of cadre secrets", saying that, "the ANC has been forced to bend the knee before the DA".[26] However, later the same month, the Pretoria High Court dismissed a related application by the DA to have the ANC's cadre deployment policy declared unconstitutional.[27]

Stellenbosch University

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Schreiber's DA constituency was Stellenbosch,[5] and during the parliamentary term he was a prominent activist in connection with ongoing debate about Stellenbosch University's language policy. In October 2019, he resigned from the university's Institutional Forum in protest of its 2016 language policy, which preferred English over Afrikaans as the medium of instruction; Schreiber said that he would not "be complicit in the takeover of our society" and in the suppression of indigenous languages.[28] In November 2020 he promised an "unprecedented campaign" to fight for the reversal of the language policy,[29] and in March 2021 he launched a public petition in that vein, calling for the protection of language rights "against persistent attacks by university management".[30][31] He accused the university administration, under Rector Wim de Villiers, of being "anti-Afrikaans".[32]

Also in early 2021, Schreiber led the DA in filing a complaint against Stellenbosch University with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), alleging that it was a rights violation for the university's residences to institute rules prohibiting conversations in Afrikaans in certain common spaces. The SAHRC found against the university in March 2023.[33] The SAHRC complaint stimulated extensive public debate, with Schreiber's critics accusing him of "cheap politicking",[34] of needlessly polarising rhetoric,[35] of resorting to racist dog whistles,[36] and of reinforcing a false dichotomy between anti-racism and the promotion of Afrikaans.[37]

Minister of Home Affairs: 2024–present

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Schreiber was re-elected to his seat in the National Assembly in the May 2024 general election, ranked 16th on the DA's national party list.[12] On 30 June, in line with a coalition agreement between the DA and ANC, President Ramaphosa announced that he is to be appointed the cabinet as Minister of Home Affairs.[38][39][40] The ANC's Njabulo Nzuza was appointed as his deputy.[41] In the aftermath of the cabinet announcement, there were false reports that Schreiber was born in Zimbabwe, stemming from the circulation on social media of a vandalised Wikipedia article about him.[3]

After he was sworn in as minister on 3 July 2024,[1] Schreiber said that his initial priority in the Department of Home Affairs would be "getting the basics right", reducing backlogs through technological interventions and business process reforms.[42] He also expressed support for improving access to visas for skilled immigrants, as well as for a "zero tolerance" approach to corruption.[42]

Publications

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  • Schreiber, Leon Amos (2014). "Institutions and Policy Change: The Development of the Child Support Grant in South Africa". Politikon. 41 (2): 267–288. doi:10.1080/02589346.2014.905258. ISSN 0258-9346.
  • Schreiber, Leon (2018). Coalition Country: South Africa After the ANC. NB Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-0-624-08394-8.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Historic day for SA as government of national unity ministers take oath of office". Daily Maverick. 3 July 2024. Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Final Candidate Lists for 2024 National and Provincial Elections: National Candidates" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 10 April 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Heever, Megan van den (2 July 2024). "Was the new Minister of Home Affairs born in Zimbabwe?". The South African. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Leon Schreiber". The Conversation. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c "MP's Corner: Mr Leon Schreiber". People's Assembly. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  6. ^ Schreiber, Leon Amos (2015). Institutions and Emerging Welfare States: Social Assistance in South Africa and Brazil. Freie Universität Berlin.
  7. ^ "Global Essay Competition". St. Gallen Symposium. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  8. ^ Tandwa, Lizeka (17 March 2019). "A phenomenal doctor, a YouTuber and two researchers walk into the DA – six DA candidates you may not know". News24. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. ^ 200 Young South Africans (PDF). Mail & Guardian. 2017. p. 53. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  10. ^ Westerdale, Jarryd (1 July 2024). "New Home Affairs Minister: Who is Leon Schreiber?". The Citizen. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  11. ^ Davis, Rebecca (17 April 2018). "Road to 2019: South Africa, a country of coalitions?". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  12. ^ a b c "Leon Amos Schreiber". People's Assembly. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  13. ^ Nkanjeni, Unathi (6 June 2019). "DA shadow cabinet: What you need to know". Sunday Times. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  14. ^ Gerber, Jan (5 June 2019). "Here's the DA's 'shadow cabinet'". News24. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  15. ^ Mazzone, Natasha (5 December 2020). "DA announces new Shadow Cabinet that will bring Real Hope and Real Change". Democratic Alliance. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  16. ^ Ferreira, Emsie (30 June 2024). "Good to govern: After a month of waiting, Ramaphosa finally appoints his unity cabinet". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  17. ^ Gerber, Jan (7 April 2021). "Parliament names committee which will determine Mkhwebane's fate, RET faction snubbed". News24. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  18. ^ Gerber, Jan (2 December 2021). "Gwarube elected as DA's deputy chief whip". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Shadow Cabinet: DA announces changes with a focus on Election 2024". Democratic Alliance. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  20. ^ Davis, Gaye (17 February 2021). "DA draft bill seeks to end cadre deployment". EWN. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  21. ^ Gerber, Jan (19 September 2023). "ANC defeats bill DA proposed as a 'cure for cadre deployment virus'". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  22. ^ Seeletsa, Molefe (19 September 2023). "ANC blocks DA's 'undesirable' anti-cadre deployment bill in Parliament". The Citizen. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  23. ^ Gerber, Jan (12 January 2022). "DA to report appointments at 88 state institutions, based on ANC deployment committee minutes". News24. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  24. ^ "DA calls for probe into ANC cadre deployment". IOL. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  25. ^ "DA to request Parliamentary debate on cadre deployment". eNCA. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  26. ^ Seeletsa, Molefe (19 February 2024). "'ANC forced to bend knee before DA,' says Schreiber as party hands over cadre deployment records". The Citizen. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  27. ^ Erasmus, Des (21 February 2024). "High court dismisses DA case on cadre deployment". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  28. ^ Kaunda, Selisho (16 October 2019). "DA MP resigns from Stellies Institutional Forum after ConCourt battle over language policy". The Citizen. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  29. ^ "DA to launch campaign to 'make Afrikaans equal with English' at Stellenbosch University". Herald. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  30. ^ "DA launches petition to make Afrikaans equal to English at Stellenbosch University". SABC News. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  31. ^ Nkanjeni, Unathi (23 March 2021). "'Make Afrikaans equal to English': DA launches petition to end 'war' against mother tongue at SU". Dispatch. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  32. ^ Mokhoali, Veronica (24 March 2021). "DA accuses Stellenbosch University management of being anti-Afrikaans". EWN. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  33. ^ "SAHRC finds against Stellenbosch University regarding only-English policy". The Sowetan. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  34. ^ Kumalo, Siseko H. (13 April 2021). "Stellenbosch language debate: A response to Leon Schreiber". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  35. ^ Seyisi, Thembalethu (23 March 2023). "Right-wingers posing as language activists harming Stellenbosch University". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  36. ^ Davis, Rebecca (9 November 2022). "Race relations report shows how interest groups hold Stellenbosch University hostage". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  37. ^ "Stellenbosch must tackle overprivileged indifference to become more inclusive". The Mail & Guardian. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  38. ^ "Statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the appointment of members of the national executive". 30 June 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  39. ^ "President Ramaphosa Announces South African New Government: GNU, A Historic Unity of 11 Parties!". YouTube. 30 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  40. ^ Thoka, Mothushi (1 July 2024). "SA has a new home affairs minister, but refugees, migrants doubt that anything will change". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  41. ^ Ramaphosa, Cyril (30 June 2024). "Working together to 'serve the people': Ramaphosa names new Cabinet". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  42. ^ a b Ensor, Linda (2 July 2024). "Work visas high on new home affairs minister's agenda". Business Day. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
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Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration
2019–2024 		Incumbent
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