He was born in 1943 in Ntambamhlope near Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal. He holds an MBA in Strategic Marketing Management from the International Management Centre (United Kingdom).citation needed He gained extensive experience in human resources and business development while working for the sugar firm Hulettscitation needed.
He entered local government in 1994 as an ANC member and was appointed Chair of the Executive Committee of the Durban Metropolitan Council 1995.citation needed
Mlaba was elected Metropolitan Mayor (ANC) in July 1996. He has completed two terms of office and is currently serving his third term.
Criticism
Police at a shack dwellers' march on Obed Mlaba, 28 September, 2007
In late 2005 the New York Times reported that shack dwellers in the Foreman Road shanty town had burnt an effigy of Mlaba after they had been banned from staging a march on the mayor to protest against his housing policy.1 A few days after the march Mlaba called a press conference at which he announced that a large amount of Huletts (now trading as Moreland) land would soon be made available for a R10 billion housing project for shack dwellers.2 Moreland denied that there was such a project and later went on to announce a commercial project on the land.
