About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Sutcliffe, Michael

Click here for list of interviews

On the 1st of July 2002, Dr. Michael Sutcliffe became the Municipal Manager of the eThekwini Municipality (formerly known as Durban). He heads the administration of one of South Africa's major urban areas poised to undergo major transformation in order to bring developmental local government to all the people of Durban.

He was born in Amanzimtoti, schooled there and both studied and worked at the University of Natal before spreading out along a career path that would see him actively working to bring about a changed and free South Africa.

He completed his doctorates at Ohio State University in the USA. On his return to South Africa, he became an Associate Professor at the University of Natal in the Master's of Town and Regional Planning programme. During the 1980s he was increasingly involved with the liberation movement led by the ANC. He worked mainly on policy for a post-apartheid South Africa and was involved in the establishment of more than ten NGOs. In 1994 he was elected as an ANC MPL in KwaZulu-Natal where he chaired the Local Government Portfolio Committee. In 1999 he was appointed by President Mandela as the Chairperson of the Municipal Demarcation Board, responsible for defining the new municipalities and wards in South Africa.

He is married to Felicity and has two children.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.