[4] He was Deputy Minister of Science and Technology having served under the then-Presidents Kgalema Motlanthe and Thabo Mbeki,[5] and former President Jacob Zuma in May 2009.

Hanekom's tenure as Minister of Land Affairs was reflective of his career in the anti-apartheid NGO sector and he was selected by former President Nelson Mandela partly because of his ability as an Afrikaner to negotiate with white landowners.

As a 23-year-old in 1976, Hanekom was arrested for participating in a peaceful candlelight demonstration at John Vorster Square, the Police Headquarters in Johannesburg.

Four years later, in 1980, Hanekom and Patricia joined the ANC, conducting underground activities while continuing to farm on a smallholding in Magaliesburg.

Patricia and Hanekom fed information to the parent body ANC, such as the apartheid Defence Force's attempts to overthrow the Mozambican government through the rebel movement, Renamo.

After three years in exile and as the apartheid government unbanned previously banned political organisations,[10] Hanekom returned to South Africa in 1990 to work at the headquarters of the ANC, where he was responsible for policy formulation on land and agricultural matters, during the period of negotiations prior to the first democratic elections in 1994.

Under founding democratic President Nelson Mandela, Hanekom was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs from 1996 to 1999.

In his capacity, Hanekom piloted various reform bills through Parliament which aimed to redress the injustices and inequities caused by apartheid laws and the 1913 Land Act.

Hanekom was replaced as Minister of Tourism on 31 March 2017 but remained an ANC member of parliament after he filed a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma.