Major General Bantu Holomisa is a political leader who co-founded the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and serves as its President. In 1999, within a period of twenty months since the UDM’s establishment he, together with thirteen other members, were elected to Parliament. He currently serves as the Deputy Chairperson of the National Defence Force Service Commission. Bantu serves on the following Portfolio Committees in the National Assembly: International Relations, Water and Environment Affairs as well as the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. During the general elections in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) Election Committee chose him to campaign nationwide alongside Thabo Mbeki, Cyril Ramaphosa, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as well as the late Nelson Mandela. In the same year he received the most votes at the ANC National Congress. He served as the Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism of South Africa in the Government of National Unity and is an environmental activist till this day. He has played a leading role in the establishment of the Champions of the Environment Foundation. He is married with two children and lives in Pretoria.