Sibusiso Mandlenkosi Emmanuel Bengu
Bengu in 2007
Ambassador to Germany
In office 1999–2003
President	Thabo Mbeki
Minister of Education
In office 1994–1999
President	Nelson Mandela
Personal details
Born	(1934-05-08)8 May 1934 Kranskop, South Africa
Died	30 December 2024(2024-12-30) (aged 90)
Political party	ANC
Other political affiliations	Inkatha Freedom Party (formerly)
Spouse	Funeka Bengu
Children	3
Profession	Educator

Sibusiso Mandlenkosi Emmanuel Bengu (8 May 1934 – 30 December 2024) was a South African politician.

Bengu was born in Kranskop, Natal on 8 May 1934.^[1] He and become a teacher in 1952. Bengu founded the Dlangezwa High School near Empangeni in 1969 and was principal until 1976. He completed a PhD in political sciences at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva in 1974 and in 1977 he was appointed a professor at the University of Zululand. He served as Secretary-General of Inkatha Freedom Party but due to differences he clashed with Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the president of the party.

Bengu left South Africa in 1978 and served as secretary for research and social action for the Lutheran World Foundation. While he was abroad he met and became friends with Oliver Tambo, then acting President of the African National Congress. He returned in 1991 to become the first black Vice-chancellor of a South African university, Fort Hare University. In 1994, Bengu became Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Nelson Mandela, and served until he was deployed to Germany to become South Africa's ambassador in 1999.

Bengu was married to Funeka and had four daughters and a son. He died on 30 December 2024, at the age of 90.^[2]

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