Ebrahim Patel

Ebrahim Patel (born 1 January 1962) is a South African politician and former trade unionist who has been Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition since May 2019. He previously served as Minister of Economic Development from 2009 to 2019.

Raised in Cape Town, Patel rose to prominence in the trade union movement, notably as secretary-general of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union from 1993 to 2009. In that capacity, he was labour convenor at the National Economic Development and Labour Council during the post-apartheid transition, as well as a member of the executive of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

President Jacob Zuma appointed Patel to the cabinet after the 2009 general election, and he acquired his current portfolio when President Cyril Ramaphosa created it in a ministerial merger in 2019. Throughout his time in the cabinet, he has been associated with the pursuit of localisation and industrialisation by means of industrial and sectoral planning. Both of his ministries have rigorously applied public-interest provisions in South African competition law, frequently imposing developmental and social-responsibility conditions on private mergers, such as the 2011 acquisition of Massmart by Walmart. Though Patel is a self-proclaimed supporter of the entrepreneurial state and of public–private partnership, his critics object to his interventionist impulses, which, along with his union background, have given him a reputation as a left-wing figure in the government.