Sicelo Shiceka
[7] Critics accused Shilowa of "purging" the Executive Council of those who, like Shiceka, were viewed as political allies of his rival, Mathole Motshekga.
However, during its first sitting, the provincial legislature elected him as one of its permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces, the upper house of the South African Parliament.
Announcing his cabinet on 25 September, Mbeki's successor, President Kgalema Motlanthe, appointed Shiceka to succeed Sydney Mufamadi as Minister of Provincial and Local Government.
[20] Upon taking up the renamed portfolio, Shiceka said that he would prioritise anti-corruption measures, aiming to achieve clean audits in all provincial and local governments by 2014.
[21] His duties also included overseeing host cities' preparations for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
[22] However, Shiceka's major task and "poisoned chalice" under both Motlanthe and Zuma was political oversight of South Africa's municipalities, many of which were near collapse.
[23][24] A task team appointed by Shiceka reported a web of underlying causes, including corruption and financial mismanagement.
[28] By the end of 2010, the Mail & Guardian said that the reforms were "yet to yield results",[29] though it commended Shiceka for being "a visible leader who put out the fires" created by long-running municipal demarcation disputes in Moutse, Matatiele, and Khutsong.
[34] From late February 2011 onwards, Shiceka was on prolonged sick leave; his ministerial duties were performed in an acting capacity by Nathi Mthethwa, the Minister of Police.
[35] In March 2011, the Sunday Times broke the first of several stories which suggested that Shiceka had misappropriated public funds for his personal benefit, among other things to pay for luxury hotel stays, limousine services, first-class air tickets, and a visit to the Swiss jail where one of his girlfriends was detained.
[40] In April, Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics asked the Public Protector to investigate the allegations – the first time that it had made such a request in the post-apartheid era.
[41] The Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, submitted her report to Parliament on 14 October 2011; titled In the Extreme, it recommended that Zuma should take "serious action" to punish Shiceka for maladministration and misconduct.
[44] On 24 October 2011, President Zuma announced a cabinet reshuffle in which Shiceka – still on sick leave – was sacked and replaced by Richard Baloyi.
[49] In October 2011, several days before Zuma sacked him from the cabinet, Shiceka was hospitalised at Life Carstenhof Clinic in Midrand, Gauteng.
[51][52] Official accounts of his death said only that he had died after "a long illness"; City Press published an editorial suggesting that this phrase was a euphemism for complications from HIV/AIDS, which at the time was both endemic and stigmatised in South Africa.
[53] Shiceka was granted an official funeral, held at the Standard Bank Arena in Johannesburg on 9 May, and he was buried at the Westpark Cemetery.
[56] Chris Barron of the Sunday Times, describing Shiceka as "vibrant, intelligent, charismatic, highly ambitious and an impeccable dresser", agreed that he "had the potential to become an outstanding political leader, but instead became a notorious philanderer and high-living abuser of the public purse".
