Lindiwe Sisulu
Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu (born 10 May 1954) is a South African politician. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly of South Africa between April 1994 and March 2023. During that time, from 2001 to 2023, she served continuously in the cabinet as a minister under four consecutive presidents. President Cyril Ramaphosa sacked her from his cabinet in March 2023, precipitating her resignation from the National Assembly.
Lindiwe Sisulu
Portfolio established
Portfolio abolished
Tokyo Sexwale (for Human Settlements)
The daughter of anti-apartheid leaders Albertina and Walter Sisulu, Sisulu was born in Johannesburg and attended boarding school in neighbouring Swaziland. After suffering prolonged detention without trial in 1976–1977, she left South Africa, aged 23, and joined Umkhonto we Sizwe in exile. She lived primarily in Swaziland and England until 1990, when she returned to South Africa during the negotiations to end apartheid. Elected to the National Assembly in South Africa's first post-apartheid elections, she became the inaugural chairperson of Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, and she went on to serve in Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs from 1996 to 2001.
Under President Thabo Mbeki, Sisulu served as Minister of Intelligence from 2001 to 2004 and as Minister of Housing from 2004 to 2009. Under President Jacob Zuma, she was Minister of Defence and Military Veterans from 2009 to 2012, Minister of Public Service and Administration from 2012 to 2014, and (returned to her former portfolio) Minister of Human Settlements from 2014 to 2018. President Ramaphosa appointed her as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation in February 2018, but her tenure in that position was brief: after the 2019 general election, she was moved to the newly created position of Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation. Finally, in a cabinet reshuffle in August 2021, she was demoted to Minister of Tourism, her last position in government.
Known for her "relentless" political ambition,[1] she campaigned for election to the ANC presidency ahead of the party's 54th National Conference in 2017 and its 55th National Conference in 2022. Her 2022 campaign was notable for its populist rejection of constitutionalism. Neither campaign received enough support to advance a presidential nomination. She did appear on the 2017 ballot as Ramaphosa's running mate, but David Mabuza won the deputy presidential slot. Sisulu has been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee since December 1997; she was re-elected to a sixth five-year term in December 2022. She also served four terms as a member of the ANC National Working Committee between 2003 and 2022.
Early political career[edit]
When South Africa's first post-apartheid elections were held in April 1994, Sisulu was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament. The Intelligence Control Act created Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence in 1995 and she was elected to chair the committee.[7][12]
However, in June 1996 – less than a year into her tenure as committee chairperson – Sisulu was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in President Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity.[7] She ultimately held that position from June 1996 to January 2001,[7] and she deputised Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the leader of the opposition Inkatha Freedom Party.[13] While serving as Deputy Minister, Sisulu attended the ANC's 50th National Conference in Mafikeng in December 1997, at which she was elected for the first time to the party's National Executive Committee.[14]
Ministerial career[edit]
Intelligence: 2001–2004[edit]
After the 1999 general election, newly elected President Thabo Mbeki initially retained Sisulu and Buthelezi in the Home Affairs portfolio.[7] In January 2001, however, he announced a cabinet reshuffle which saw Sisulu join the cabinet as Minister of Intelligence, replacing Joe Nhlanhla.[15] In that capacity, in 2003, she established the Intelligence Services Council.[16]
In December 2002, the ANC's 51st National Conference elected Sisulu to a second term as a member of the National Executive Committee; by number of votes received, she was the 13th-most popular candidate of the 60 ordinary members elected to the committee.[17] She was also elected to the smaller National Working Committee for the first time.[18]
Personal life[edit]
Sisulu's first husband was South African economist Xolile Guma, whom she married in exile;[139] they had their first child together out of wedlock in December 1975.[4] After their divorce, she remarried to Rok Ajulu, a Kenyan academic who died of pancreatic cancer in December 2016 and with whom she also had children.[140] In 2022, Sisulu said that she had herself been treated for cancer.[141][142]