Deputy President

Cde Lucky Goodman Mabutho Cele became a member of SADTU in 1994 when he began his teaching career at Sisebenzile Secondary School, INdwedwe. In 2003, Cde Cele was elected as Education Convener and, later, Branch secretary for the uMlingo branch then, now named Victoria Mxenge in the then Durban South Region, now called Mzi Mthembu Region, in KwaZulu-Natal.

In 2005, he became the Deputy Chairperson of the Mzi Mthembu Region and two years later, the regional secretary. In 2009, Cde Cele was elected the regional chairperson of Mzi Mthembu Region. In 2011, he was elected KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Chairperson. During the 8th National Congress in 2014, Cde Cele was elected the Deputy President and was re-elected as the Deputy President during the 9th National Congress in 2019.

He is the former District Secretary of the SACP in Durban South District, and currently a DEC member of the same District. He is former Ward 82 BEC member of the ANC branch and still a member, in Ethekwini Region. He is currently employed as a Principal of Montclair Senior Primary School in KZN. Cde Cele is the Chairperson of the South African Council for Educators (SACE).

He is also the President of Africa Federation Teacher Regulatory Authority (AFTRA). During the Education International (EI) World Congress held in July 2019 in Thailand, Cde Cele was elected as the convener of the Commonwealth Teachers Group (CTG). As SADTU Deputy President, Cde Cele's priorities include working on cadreship development with an emphasis on unionism in order for the Union to achieve its 2030 Vision buttressed by ideological unity and cohesion; fight injustices in education brought by privatization, commodification and marketization of education locally and internationally.