Afzul Rehman is one of the most prominent politicians who had previously been a businessman. He is 45 years old and was born and brought up in Newcastle, South Africa. He had been the former Mayor of the Local Council of Newcastle. He had made some of the most notable reforms in the area and is quite well known for it.
Early Years:
Afzul Rehman was born to Farouk Rehman who had been the former IFP MPL (1992-94). He was brought up in a household that is respectful of their own community. He had helped his father in managing the material aspects of their properties and the legal work.
Rehman had graduated from Lincoln’s Height Secondary School in the year 1991 and went on to study at the University of Kwazulu Natal from 1992 to 94. However, he left his studies midway to help with the family business. He began to manage his family business at the young age of 22 in 1996. He had made connections with the local communities and established good relations. At such a young age, he had won the Ward Councilor position in the locality of Newcastle which allowed him to design his own political career.
Political Career:
In the same year, he made his entry into politics as the Councilor of the Umzinyathi District in the Municipality. He held the position till 2000. In 2006, he became a member of Newcastle’s Executive Committee. He acted as a financial advisor at the local Portfolio Company. He had also won the Deputy Chief Whip at the ANC Caucus.
Afzul Rehman Newcastle held his position at the ruling ANC as an executive member from 2004 to 2006. He also became a board member of the Kwazulu Natal Trade and International Committee. He became the Product Chairman of the local labor forum and the regional treasurer of ANC Emalahleni in 2007. He became the Deputy Mayor of Newcastle in 2009. He was also the acting Mayor during this time and this work had gained him a lot of experience.
Finally, he became the Mayor of Newcastle in the year 2010 which is his most notable achievement. He continues to be the youngest Mayor of Newcastle. He had also won the award of the most consistent performing Mayor of Newcastle.
Afzul Rehman had also served as the Speaker of the Amajuba District. He held that position till 2018.
Achievements as a Mayor:
He was the Kwazulu Natal’s best Mayor for three consecutive years and he was always praised for his substantial work in the area. The position of ANC improved to a value of 72% from 47% from the year 2009. He had canceled the free lunches for their staff which had helped them to save a huge amount of money and earned a good amount of revenue for the district. Their capital expenditure budget increased consequently during his tenure. Their CAPEX budget also increased from a lowly R86 million in 2009 to R492 million in 2014. He had carried out a number of procedures during his tenure which had earned him praise from different quarters. Afzul Rehman had the reputation of conducting paperless meetings for each of his campaigns. This had earned him appreciation from environmentalists. He had invested almost R2 billion for the township during his four-year tenure. This had earned him the support of many local people.
Personal Life:
In 2016 he got into the University of Pretoria to study Public Administration. Afzul Rehman South Africa is married and he has three children. The two sons named Mohd. Zia and Umar, and a daughter named Maariya with his wife Farhana whom he had married in 2005.
