Durban — President Cyril Ramaphosa’s win could signal the end of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s political career.
Dlamini Zuma has been a senior member of the president’s Cabinet and in the national executive committee that was pushing for Ramaphosa’s removal as leader of both the ANC and the country after a Section 89 panel report found he has a case to answer on the Phala Phala debacle.
She was the first one who voted yes for the adoption of the report, which if it was adopted was likely to bury Ramaphosa. She and four “rebel” party parliamentarians were charged by the party for defying its directive, but the NEC deferred the matter to be dealt with by the new leadership.
There was a belief that had Dr Zweli Mkhize won the presidency he was going to give the rebels an “amnesty” since he himself had called for the president to step down. But with Ramaphosa’s return it is not clear whether she would be dismissed like Dr Makhosi Khoza (who was fired during former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure).
The Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister was on Friday still campaigning for the ANC presidency, telling her backers on Twitter that she had not been barred from standing, but she declined the nomination on Sunday.
Speaking through her personal spokesperson Palo Jama, Dlamini Zuma said she was not yet ready to talk about her future.
She was born in 1949 in Nkumba village near the rural town of Bulwer near Underberg.
She received her secondary education at Adams College outside Amanzimtoti in 1967. After matric, she began her tertiary studies at the University of Zululand where she graduated with a BSc degree in Zoology and Botany, in 1971. In 1972 she registered at the University of Natal for an MBChB degree, but did not finish it there. In 1976 she left South Africa and went into exile in Britain, and finished her MBChB degree at Bristol University in 1978.
Between 1992 and 1998 Dlamini Zuma was married to former president Jacob Zuma.
Dlamini Zuma was appointed Minister of Health in the cabinet of then president Nelson Mandela between 1994 and 1999, where she continued the work of her predecessor in racially desegregating the health system, and broadening the state’s anti-tobacco measures.
In 1999 she introduced the Tobacco Products Amendment Bill, making it illegal to smoke in public. Her term coincided with the beginning of the HIV/ Aids epidemic in South Africa, during which her ministry was criticised for publicly supporting Virodene – a “quick remedy” for HIV/Aids.
In 1995 her department awarded a R14.27 million contract to Mbongeni Ngema to produce Sarafina II – a South African musical designed as an HIV/Aids public awareness initiative.
However, investigations revealed that she had misled Parliament about the source of the project’s funding, and had ignored proper bidding procedures.
Between 1999 and 2009 she served as minister of foreign affairs under presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. She was criticised for her “quiet diplomacy” in response to land invasions and political crises under Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.
In 2009 Dlamini Zuma continued as home affairs minister under Jacob Zuma’s administration, a position she held until 2012. During her tenure, she was lauded for turning around the department. However, in 2011 she was blamed for her failure to issue the Dalai Lama a visa to attend Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations because her department was reluctant to offend China.
Later in 2012 Dlamini Zuma was appointed chairperson of the African Union Commission, a position she held until 2017.
She was criticised for filling her advisory office and security detail with South African nationals, and for spending too much time in South Africa instead of at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. However, she was lauded for her professionalism, and for bringing in concepts such as gender, human rights and food security. On returning to South Africa she became an MP in 2017, and between 2018 and 2019 was appointed minister in the presidency in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration.
In this capacity, she was the chairperson of the National Planning Commission and oversaw the implementation of South Africa’s National Development Plan.
Between 2019 and 2022, Dlamini Zuma became the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta).
Unfortunately, her department faced a lot of financial mismanagement by municipalities.
Between March 2020 and April 2022 South Africa was placed under a national State of Disaster, allowing the executive to bypass Parliament in regulating the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In terms of the Disaster Management Act, as Cogta Minister Dlamini Zuma was responsible for promulgating those regulations.
Cogta’s bans on tobacco and alcohol, and other hard lockdown regulations became unpopular with sections of the population and were subjected to several challenges in the courts.
Besides being an ANC NEC member, Dlamini Zuma threw her name in the hat for the ANC presidency in 2017. She was endorsed by the Women’s League, Youth League and the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association. She lost against Ramaphosa.
In September 2022, Dlamini Zuma put her hand up to run for the ANC presidency in the organisation’s 55th elective conference. She was nominated by her own ANC eThekwini branch, and was also endorsed by former president Zuma, but declined to stand when she was nominated from the floor on the day of the conference.
Daily News