Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
In office
6 March 2023 – 19 June 2024
PresidentCyril Ramaphosa
DeputySisisi Tolashe
Preceded byMaite Nkoana-Mashabane
Succeeded bySindisiwe Chikunga
Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
In office
30 May 2019 – 6 March 2023
PresidentCyril Ramaphosa
DeputyParks Tau (until 2020)
Obed Bapela (2019–2023)
Thembi Nkadimeng (2021–2023)
Preceded byZweli Mkhize
Succeeded byThembi Nkadimeng
Minister in the Presidency
In office
28 February 2018 – 29 May 2019
PresidentCyril Ramaphosa
Preceded byJeff Radebe
Succeeded byJackson Mthembu
3rd Chairperson of the African Union Commission
In office
15 October 2012 – 30 January 2017
DeputyErastus Mwencha
Preceded byJean Ping
Succeeded byMoussa Faki
Minister of Home Affairs
In office
10 May 2009 – 3 October 2012
PresidentJacob Zuma
Preceded byNosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
Succeeded byNaledi Pandor
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
14 June 1999 – 10 May 2009
PresidentThabo Mbeki
Kgalema Motlanthe
Preceded byAlfred Nzo
Succeeded byMaite Nkoana-Mashabane (International Relations and Cooperation)
21st Minister of Health
In office
10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999
PresidentNelson Mandela
Preceded byRina Venter
Succeeded byManto Tshabalala-Msimang
Additional offices
1994–present
Chancellor of the University of Limpopo
Assumed office
28 May 2019
Vice-ChancellorMahlo Mokgalong
Preceded byReuel Khoza
Personal details
Born
Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini

(1949-01-27) 27 January 1949 (age 75)
Natal, Union of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouse
(m. 1982; div. 1998)
RelationsHlobisile Dlamini (sister)
Children4, including Gugulethu and Thuthukile
Alma materUniversity of Zululand
University of Natal
University of Bristol
University of Liverpool
Occupation
  • Politician
  • medical doctor
  • diplomat
  • anti-apartheid activist

Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma (née Dlamini; born 27 January 1949), sometimes referred to by her initials NDZ, is a South African politician, medical doctor and former anti-apartheid activist. A longstanding member of the African National Congress (ANC), she currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Limpopo.

Dlamini-Zuma was born and educated in the former Natal province, where, as a student, she became involved in the Black Consciousness Movement through the South African Students' Organisation. Between 1976 and 1990, she lived in exile outside South Africa, primarily in the United Kingdom and Swaziland, where she practiced medicine and engaged in ANC activism. Since 1994, Dlamini-Zuma has served in the cabinet of every post-apartheid South African president. She was Minister of Health under President Nelson Mandela, and Minister of Foreign Affairs for ten years under Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. During the first term of President Jacob Zuma, she was Minister of Home Affairs, in which portfolio she was credited with turning around a dysfunctional department. During President Cyril Ramaphosa's second term, she was briefly also Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.

Under President Cyril Ramaphosa, she served as Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, with responsibility for the National Planning Commission, before becoming Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, in which capacity she had a prominent and controversial role in regulating South Africa's lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was absent from the South African government between October 2012 and January 2017, when she served as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, making her the first woman to lead either that organisation or its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity.[1] Her tenure in that position was also controversial.

She has been a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee since the early 1990s, and has twice campaigned unsuccessfully for leadership positions in the party: in 2007, at the ANC's 52nd National Conference, Motlanthe defeated her to win the deputy presidency; while at the 54th National Conference in 2017, she narrowly lost the ANC presidency to Ramaphosa, the current incumbent.

  1. ^ African Union chooses first female leader, theguardian.com; accessed 8 August 2017.

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