Mvume Dandala

Hamilton Mvumelwano Dandala ( born October 26, 1951 in Mount Ayliff ) is known mostly as " Mvume Dandala ", is a South African politician and church leaders.

From 1996 to 2003 he was the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church in South Africa and from 2003 to 2008 Chairman of the All Africa Conference of Churches. His spiritual offices he resigned before his presidential candidacy.

On 23 February 2009, he was for the presidential election in April by the Party Congress of the People ( COPE ) set up as a candidate. In the parliamentary elections in South Africa in 2009 COPE reached 7.42% of the vote. Dandala was leader of the first party represented in Parliament. In the course of the power struggle within the party between Mosiuoa Lekota and Shilowa Mbhazima he resigned with effect from 15 July 2010 from Group Chair and as a member of parliament.

Dandala studied theology at Cambridge. The University of Transkei in 2003 awarded him an honorary doctorate in philosophy and the Protestant University of Cameroon, 2005 in theology. He is married to Ntombizodwa Ntukwana and has a daughter and a son.