Marius Llewellyn Fransman (born 15 August 1969) is a retired South African politician and teacher. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from 2014 to 2016, and as Chairperson of the Western Cape African National Congress from 2011 to 2016. He served as Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. From 2009 to 2014, he was a Member of the National Assembly. Fransman served as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from 1999 to 2009, and again from 2014 to 2016.
Early life and career
Fransman was born on 15 August 1969 in Blackheath on the Cape Flats. He served as head boy of Bishop Lavis Secondary School and matriculated in 1987. He played a crucial role in creating awareness while he served as the chairperson of the school's student representative council (SRC). He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Cape. Later on, he achieved a Higher Diploma in Education from the same university.
After completing his studies at university, he worked as a teacher in the town of Vredendal. In that same period, he joined the African National Congress.
Political career
He worked as a regional recruiter for the ANC and later took up the position of Farm Dweller Project Manager at Surplus People's Project. He served as Provincial Deputy Secretary of the Western Cape African National Congress branch from 1997 until 2004, while he concurrently worked as head of the fishing desk. He was the party's rural elections co-ordinator from 1995 until he became the party's provincial elections coordinator in 1999.
Despite holding many internal party positions, he served as Deputy Mayor and Mayor of the Vredendal Municipality. He was elected to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament in 1999 and held many positions in the Western Cape provincial government. He was named Provincial Minister of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation in 2001 but was then deployed to the position of Provincial Minister of Local Government and Housing in 2004. In 2005, Rasool reshuffled his executive and designated Fransman as Provincial Minister of Transport and Public Works. He served until 2008 when Premier Lynne Brown announced that Fransman would become Provincial Minister of Health.
In May 2009, he was elected to the National Assembly and served as Parliamentary Chairperson of the Higher Education and Training Committee. President Jacob Zuma reconfigured the national cabinet in October 2010 and named Fransman as Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, succeeding Sue van der Merwe.
Chairperson of the Western Cape African National Congress
Fransman was a candidate for the post of Chairperson of the Western Cape African National Congress. The incumbent, Mcebisi Skwatsha, decided to stand down. Fransman was unanimously elected chairperson on 12 February 2011 at the party's conference in Cape Town.
As Chairperson of the African National Congress in the Democratic Alliance-led Western Cape, Fransman came under fire on several occasions before the 2014 general election for his controversial canvassing methods. The methods included distributing food parcels to potential voters and promising large sums of cash to Coloured voters before the election. Fransman was the party's premier candidate. The party retained all its seats in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and he returned to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament as Leader of the Opposition, succeeding Lynne Brown. He challenged incumbent Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance for the position of Premier at the first sitting of the Fifth Provincial Parliament. He subsequently lost to Zille as the Democratic Alliance held a majority in the Provincial Parliament. Fransman received 14 votes compared Zille's 27 votes.
Fransman had also challenged and criticised the Western Cape Government and the Democratic Alliance on its policy positions. Fransman won re-election unopposed to a second term at the party's conference in 2015.