Zwelini Lawrence Mkhize (born 2 February 1956) is a South African medical doctor and politician who served as the Minister of Health from May 2019 until his resignation on 5 August 2021.

As Minister of Health under President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mkhize played a central role in South Africa's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, he resigned in 2021 amid allegations that he and his family had benefitted improperly from a state contract awarded by the Department of Health to a communications company called Digital Vibes.

[2][4] In 1976, the year of the Soweto uprising, Mkhize began medical school at the University of Natal,[3] where he was a member of the students' representative council.

[5] After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Mkhize was appointed Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health in the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal, one of two provinces where the ANC did not win a majority in 1994.

Under President Thabo Mbeki, the government response to the epidemic was criticised as unscientific and influenced by HIV/AIDS denialism; in the summation of Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, Mkhize was at times "both hero and villain" in this context.

[6] Mkhize deviated from national government policy in allowing the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research to conduct antiretroviral treatment trials in public clinics in KwaZulu-Natal.

[7][6] However, in 2001, when the Treatment Action Campaign sued the government for its failure to provide services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Mkhize backed Mbeki in opposing the lawsuit.

In May 2010, five men were arrested in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, on the basis of a criminal intelligence tip-off, while allegedly on their way to Mkhize's home in Pietermaritzburg; illegal firearms and ammunition were found in their vehicle.

[38][39][40] In April 2017, he joined other ANC leaders in publicly criticising Zuma's subsequent decision to reshuffle his cabinet again and dismiss Pravin Gordhan as Minister of Finance.

[53][54][55][56] The Business Day reported that Mkhize's candidacy might be endorsed by David Mabuza, an influential ANC powerbroker in Mpumalanga who was pushing for a "unity ticket" to replace Zuma.

[62][63] Mabuza was ultimately elected ANC Deputy President and Mkhize was indeed re-elected to the National Executive Committee with the most votes of any candidate, 2,550 across a total of 4,283 ballots.

In late February 2018, Zuma resigned from the national Presidency; Ramaphosa succeeded him and appointed Mkhize to his cabinet as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

[68] Evaluations of his performance during the pandemic were mixed but generally positive; in his emphasis on interventions supported by scientific evidence, he was compared favourably to Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who had led the South African government's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

[39] The same week, the BBC described South Africa's early response as "ruthlessly efficient", praising Mkhize's "no-nonsense, energetic performance, and his sober, deeply knowledgeable daily briefings".

[70] In the first half of 2021, beginning with an exposé on 23 February,[71] the Daily Maverick published a series of reports by investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh on what became known as the Digital Vibes scandal.

[77][78] On 9 June, President Ramaphosa put Mkhize on special leave (effectively suspension) to allow him "to attend to allegations and investigations" concerning the Digital Vibes contracts.

[80] In addition to Myburgh's revelations, the SIU had found that Mkhize's son had received cash payments from the director of Digital Vibes; it sought to have him repay about R3.8 million in total.

[81] Although he continued to maintain his innocence, Mkhize resigned as Minister of Health on 5 August 2021, hours before Ramaphosa was expected to announce a cabinet reshuffle.

[94] However, there were consistent rumours that the Hawks were planning to institute formal criminal charges against Mkhize in connection with the Digital Vibes scandal; if they did so, the ANC's step-aside rule would preclude him from standing in any internal party elections.

According to the Witness, the investigation concerned the role of private security companies in political assassinations, and the raid involved the arrest of one of Mkhize's guards and the confiscation of various illegal firearms.

[98] A local activist had reportedly signed an affidavit saying that Mkhize had given him a submachine gun and told him to use it to kill Ntombela and then claim the murder had been in self-defence.

[97] Shortly after Ntombela lodged his accusation, the Network of Independent Monitors published a report which claimed that Ntombela and another opposition leader in the province, Sifiso Nkabinde, had been informants for the apartheid security police; opposition politicians claimed that the report was an attempt by the ANC's "propaganda machine" to distract attention from the allegations against Mkhize.

[98] In April 1999, the Sunday Tribune reported that the SIU intended to charge Mkhize and several other provincial politicians, including the IFP's Philip Powell, on grounds related to political violence.

[15] Moketedi Mpshe of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) denied that charges were imminent, but confirmed that Mkhize was under investigation on suspicion of gunrunning and conspiracy to kill Ntombela.

He implied that Bulelani Ngcuka, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, had leaked word of the investigation to the media in order to tarnish Mkhize's reputation.

Deokaran had been an employee of the Gauteng provincial health department and at the time of her death had been a whistleblower and key witness in an ongoing SIU investigation into PPE corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic; she was assassinated outside her home in southern Johannesburg in August 2021.

[119] Mkhize denied allegations that he had improperly influenced the decision to grant the loan, saying that his wife was a "professional and a businesswoman in her own right who has dealings with other financial institutions".

[119] In November 2013, there was a minor scandal, stoked by the opposition Democratic Alliance, when it emerged that Mkhize had chartered 45 planes and helicopters between 2010 and 2013, at a cost of R1.2 million in state funds.

[126] Mkhize ultimately said that he would repay the costs of the flights if asked to do so by the incumbent Premier,[127] a response which the Business Day described as having "disarmed" his critics.