Background
Tau was born in 1970 in Orlando, Soweto and became active in student politics at a young age.
politician Mayor of Johannesburg
Tau was born in 1970 in Orlando, Soweto and became active in student politics at a young age.
Tau was elected president of the Soweto Youth Congress and later served on the Pretoria Witwatersrand Vereeniging (PWV) region of the newly launched African National Congress Youth League in 1990. He was elected Regional Secretary of the African National Congress Johannesburg region and is the Regional Deputy Chairperson. Tender rigging scandal
In late September 2012, a consortium called Coral Lagoon, which was formed by the African National Congress, bought an empowerment stake from Capitec Bank using capital provided by the Industrial Development Corporation.
However, his official spokesperson, Fred Mokoko, asserted that no council member, including mayors, are allowed to be involved in any way whatsoever in tender processes.
Despite the statement from his spokesperson, Tau was accused of rigging the tenders to the benefit of Regiments, an empowerment firm with close ties to the African National Congress and to Coral Lagoon, the consortium that made Pilisiwe Twala-Tau a millionaire. In August 2013, Parks Tau was cleared of all allegations that he irregularly benefited from the financial consortium"s transactions.
City power outage
After City Power employees went on strike in early September 2013, much of Johannesburg was left in darkness with many areas being affected by power outages. Mmusi Maimane, a politician from the opposition party accused Tau of inaction in the face of cries for help from the community, alleging that up to 30 000 people were affected by the power outages.
Fred Mokoko issued a statement on 7 September 2013 in which he assured affected individuals that the city was well aware of the situation and that they would be working closely with the South African Police Service and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that the matter was taken care of.
He also communicated that Tau condemned the striking action and that criminal activity was likely the cause of the outages. Tau is involved in numerous charitable activities. He took part in the 2013 edition of the Mayoral Charity Golf day which raised over R1 million for various non-governmental organizations that assist in improving the lives of those suffering with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. On 10 December 2011 and 1 December 2012, Tau hosted a birthday party called the Every Child Birthday Party, which is a party hosted for children who may suffer from a range of vulnerabilities, including disabilities and being orphaned.
He is a member of the African National Congress, and is the second elected mayor, after Amos Masondo, of the Unified City of Johannesburg.
Several high profile members of society made up the beneficiaries, including Pilisiwe Twala-Tau, Parks Tau"s wife.