Gregory Krumbock
| Gregory Krumbock MP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shadow Minister of Tourism | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2009 | |
| Leader | Helen Zille |
| Member of Parliament for Mooi-uMngeni, KwaZulu-Natal | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2009 | |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | South African |
| Political party | Democratic Alliance |
| Alma mater | University of Cape Town |
Gregory Krumbock is a South African politician, a Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance (DA), and the Shadow Minister of Tourism.
Background
Gregory Krumbock was born in West Berlin on the 17th of July in 1960. When he was only three months old he arrived in South Africa and was educated at the South African College Schools (SACS) in Cape Town. Later, Greg enrolled at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he achieved a BComm degree.[1]
Beginning his career Greg moved to kwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in 1986 and worked as a financial manager for two local companies in the fencing and construction industries before leaving in 1992 to start his own business ventures where he completed a number of developments in the KZN Midlands area. On 1 March 1998 he accepted an offer from the then leader of the Democratic Party, Tony Leon, to take up the role of Executive Director, specifically charged with the organizational aspects of the DP’s 1999 General Election Campaign.[2]
Gregory Krumbock has been noted as one of the top 25 politicians to follow on Facebook and Twitter. Gregory is high on the list at eighth place; right behind Gareth Morgan, another South African politician with the DA.[3]
Parliamentarian
Greg’s political career commenced in the mid-1970s where he joined the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) Youth and was a member of the Wynberg Constituency and alternate delegate to the Western Cape Regional Council. He developed a lifelong interest in elections and by-elections at this time and worked as a volunteer in the Durbanville by-election which occurred at that point. He continued his role as a youth member, and in due course was elected as the KZN Midlands representative to the National Executive of the PFP Youth. He remained a volunteer working in various by-elections and national elections in the Western Cape, and then KZN where he was prominent in the Maritzburg constituencies in the 1987 and 1989 General Elections.[1]
In the lead-up to the first democratic elections in South Africa, he was elected Chairperson of Fundraising for the Midlands Region and before the end of the campaign to Provincial Chairperson of Fundraising. Shortly after the 1994 elections he was elected for several terms as Midlands Regional Chairperson until he was appointed Executive Director in 1998 bringing to an end 22 years of volunteer activism.[1]
In his capacity as Executive Director, Greg developed a number of innovations into the operations of the Democratic Party and then DA. These included instituting the first political telemarketing fundraising initiative in South Africa. He also introduced the party to modern campaign techniques including tracking polls and various leaflets developed overseas, and revolutionized the way the party fought by-elections as well as writing a number of text books on the subject. He was a co-author of the party’s re-engineering proposals where his constituency and province were the guinea-pigs for many of the concepts that the party has steadily implemented over the last four years.[1]He was first elected to Parliament in 1999, representing Mpumalanga and subsequently represented KZN in 2004 and now 2009 in his third term. He is currently serving his third term unopposed as KZN Provincial Chairperson and consultant to the CEO on election and operational matters.[1]
Gregory has supported the DA and made great improvements in the tourism industry. “How can we promote SA as a tourist destination if their first experience of the country is the loss of their luggage?” asked Greg Krumbock of the Democratic Alliance.[4]