Joel Netshitenzhe

Joel Netshitenzhe
Head of Government Communication and Information System
In office
1998โ€“2006
PresidentNelson Mandela
Thabo Mbeki
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byThemba Maseko
Personal details
Born (1956-12-21) 21 December 1956
CitizenshipSouth African
PartyAfrican National Congress
Alma materSchool of Oriental and African Studies
Occupation
  • Politician
  • strategist
  • anti-apartheid activist
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "imagesize". Replace with "image_size".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "termend". Replace with "term_end".
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "termstart". Replace with "term_start".

Joel Netshitenzhe (born 21 December 1956) is a South African politician and strategist, known for his policy and communications work for the African National Congress (ANC). He served as head of communications under President Nelson Mandela (1994); head of Government Communication and Information System (1998โ€“2006); and head of the policy unit in the Presidency (2001โ€“2009) under Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, though he was viewed as a particularly close ally of Mbeki's. A former anti-apartheid activist, Netshitenzhe was a member of the ANC National Executive Committee between 1991 and 2022, and he was a member of the ANC's delegation to the negotiations that ended apartheid.