'Woman power for South Africa'
24 June 2005
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, South Africa's new deputy president, has risen to a higher political office than any other woman in the country's history.
By appointing her, President Thabo Mbeki has signalled that South Africa could have its first female president after the 2009 elections. Mbeki is on record as saying that he would not mind a woman succeeding him.
"This will give us an opportunity further to strengthen the participation of women in the executive, and that's part of what influenced the decisions we took," Mbeki said when appointing Mlambo-Ngcuka on Tuesday.
Mlambo-Ngcuka was previously minister of the Department of Minerals and Energy. Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks will take over that role.
Mlambo-Ngcuka succeeds Jacob Zuma, who was removed from office after a high court found him to have had a "generally corrupt relationship" with his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.
Mlambo-Ngcuka's appointment has been met with approval from South African business, civil society groups and opposition politicians - and with a sense of loss from the mining industry.
'Wake-up call for SA'
Gender Links director Colleen Lowe-Morna told Business Day that Mlambo-Ngcuka's appointment was a "wake-up call" for South Africa to start taking the enormous, and often unacknowledged, role of women in society into account.
"As the campaign for women's equal representation in decision-making gains ground, we could not have hoped for a better choice for this key post," Lowe-Morna told the newspaper.
In 1997 the ruling African National Congress resolved that 33% of its candidates on election lists would be women, according to Business Day. The party is now pushing for 50% female representation on its lists for this year's local government elections. Mbeki has so far appointed 12 women as Cabinet ministers and four as premiers.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille said her party was delighted in the faith shown by Mbeki.
"Woman power for South Africa," De Lille said. "I hope that my sister will shake down some of these non-performing male ministers," news portal IOL quotes De Lille as saying.
Support from business
Mlambo-Ngcuka was appointed deputy trade and industry minister in 1996, and minister of minerals and energy in 1999. With this background, she has strong links to South African business.
"We are sad we are losing her," Chamber of Mines president Con Fauconnier told Business Day.
During her time as minister, Mlambo-Ngcuka worked hard to liberalise the petroleum industry and was instrumental in drawing up the mining industry's black economic empowerment charter.
Gold Fields CE Ian Cockerill told Business Day that Mlambo-Ngcuka's promotion was "a recognition of the work she has done".
Bridgette Radebe, chairperson of the Mining Development Association, said: "This is a great victory for the advancement of women."
Richard Calland of the Institute for Democracy told the SABC he would be surprised if Mlambo-Ngcuka did not continue to play an active role in the mining sector. Calland said he expected Mlambo-Ngcuka's duties to be tailored around her strengths.
He also said that, given her NGO background, there was confidence that Mlambo-Ngcuka would engage with HIV/Aids policies and issues.
The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) welcomed her appointment, according to IOL, and economists said the rand had improved slightly after the announcement.
"She is very strong," Sacob president Deirdre Penfold said in a statement. "She will complement the President. We can see a way forward."
"We welcome the appointment with excitement," Business Unity SA chief executive Bheki Sibiya told Iafrica.
"We believe that the President is rewarding competence and delivery, but he is also rewarding inventiveness and innovation in that Mlambo-Ngcuka was the very first minister who chartered the way around broad-based black economic empowerment.
"We are confident that her appointment to that position is not because she is a woman, but because she is competent," IAfrica quotes Sibiya as saying.
Commitment and abilities Trade unions, opposition politicians and civil society have also welcomed the appointment. Pan Africanist Congress and Independent Democrat leaders all say Mlambo-Ngcuka is one of the hard-working ministers in the Cabinet, according to the SABC.
Nelson Mandela said he had the "greatest respect and admiration for the commitment and abilities" of Mlambo-Ngcuka, according to IOL.
"I have no doubt she will perform her tasks with dedication and serve the country with that same dedication and diligence," Mandela said through his spokesperson, Zelda le Grange.
"She is a respectable woman with a warm, acceptable attitude towards members of the opposition," African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe told IAfrica. "She is one of the ministers who always received credit for running her department well; we trust that she will do an equally good job in this new position."
In a statement, Gwede Mantashe, National Union of Mineworkers general secretary, said: "We ... believe comrade Phumzile is capable of offering leadership and has demonstrated a good ability to work with the trade unions and business."
The Congress of SA Trade Unions said Mlambo-Ngcuka was respected by workers and trade unions.
"She has a soft spot for workers and has done everything to take them on board in the difficult process of transforming the minerals and energy industry," union spokesperson Paul Notyhawa said in a statement.
United Christian Democratic Party MP Sipho Mfundisi said Mlambo-Ngcuka was one of the few accountable ministers, one who was "never arrogant and was always humble".
However, not all opposition politicians were as welcoming.
"Of deep significance is the fact that Mrs Mlambo-Ngcuka is married to former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, the man who found there was a prima facie case of corruption against Jacob Zuma in 2003," Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said in a statement.
In response, presidential spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said Mlambo-Ngcuka needed to be recognised as an individual, not just as someone's wife. "We need to recognise ... their potential to contribute to the country on the basis of their own merits, rather than who they are married to," Netshitenzhe said.
"In this instance it would be to question the capacity of the deputy president to refer to her as a wife of someone else, whereas she is coming into this position in her own right."
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was born on 3 November 1955. She
obtained a Bachelor of Arts in social science and education from National University of Lesotho in 1980, and a Masters of Philosophy in educational planning and policy in 2003.
She taught in KwaZulu-Natal from 1981 to 1983. From 1984 to 1989 she was director of the Young Women's International Programme at the Young Women Christian Association world office in Geneva, where she worked on global youth development issues.
She was involved in the promotion of development education in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and development of policies and programmes favourable to job-creation for youth along with the UN system and for international NGOs.
During 1987 and 1989 she was director of Team, a development organisation based in Cape Town. Team is involved in serving squatter women and African independent churches, and promotes economic self-reliance. It also runs skills-training programmes.
From 1990 to 1992, Mlambo-Ngcuka was director of a Cape Town-based development funding NGO, World University Service South Africa. The service supports organisations that promote literacy, rural development and is involved in university outreach to marginal communities.
Mlambo-Ngcuka was also involved in the management of funds donated to development organisations by Swedish and Swiss government development agencies.
From 1993 to 1994 she served in government's gold crisis committee. She was also a member of the Cabinet's committee for economic affairs, and a management consultant at Phumelela Services, Cape Town.
Mlambo-Ngcuka currently holds the following positions:
- Deputy president of South Africa.
- Member of Parliament (since 1994).
- Member of the reconstruction and development programme (RDP) select committe.
- Chairperson of the public service select committee.
- Deputy chairperson of the Western Cape ANC provincial executive committee.
- Board member of the Women's Development Foundation, which supports women leaders.
- Provincial vice-chairperson of the ANC Western Cape.
- Board member of World University Services.
- Board member of Just Exchange, which promotes the export of small, medium and micro enterprise products to European Union countries.
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