Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara is the Executive Director of Ntinga Ntaba kaNdoda, a community-owned rural development facilitator in the Eastern Cape Province, and chairperson of Oxfam South Africa Board. Mazibuko has occupied various senior political roles, including Spokesperson and Chief Strategist of the South African Communist Party until his departure in 2010.
An activist for social justice and democracy in South Africa, Mazibuko is a Research Associate at the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Law and Society. He serves as a board member of the Alternative Information and Development Centre. He is the founding Chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, an organization that lobbied for a more responsible approach by political leaders to the challenge presented by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He has worked as the National Director of the then National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality which secured sexual orientation as a ground for non-discrimination in the Constitution of South Africa. Mazibuko is a key and influential commentator and analyst on issues such as the state of democracy and rural transformation in South Africa and edits several thought-leadership magazines, such as Amandla Magazine.