Hlengiwe Mkhize

Mkhize was born on 6 September 1952.^[1] In 1976, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, social work, and sociology from the University of Zululand,^[1] where she was involved in student activism.^[2][3] She went on to complete two postgraduate degrees at the University of Natal: an Honours in psychology in 1978, and a Master's in clinical psychology in 1981.^[1]

Mkhize spent over a decade in academia: she was a senior lecturer at the University of Zululand from 1984 to 1990 and then a senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1990 to 1995.^[1] During that period, she was also a visiting professor at the University of Illinois and University of Mississippi.^[1]

After leaving teaching, she held a series of varied posts in civil society and non-profit organisations.^[3] Most notably, from 1995 to 2003, she was a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the chairperson of the commission's Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee.^[1] She also established the National Children and Violence Trust,^[4][5] worked as a reparations officer in the President's Fund in the Ministry of Justice, chaired the board of the South African branch of Transparency International, and chaired the council of the University of Zululand.^[1] Mkhize also had various business interests;^[6] by the time that she joined the government in 2009, she was a director in 15 private companies, including Aerosud.^[7]

Through much of her career in civil society, Mkhize was also an active member of the African National Congress (ANC), the post-apartheid governing party. From 1991 to 2004, she served continuously as a member of the executive of her local ANC branch – from 1991 to 1995 in Diepsloot; from 1995 to 2000 in Sandton; and from 2001 to 2004 in Havana City, Fourways, where she was branch secretary as well as chairperson of the local ANC Women's League.^[1]

In 2005, President Thabo Mbeki appointed Mkhize as South African Ambassador to the Netherlands, a post she held until 2008.^[1] In this capacity, she chaired the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons during the early 2000s and was vice-president of the Member States at the International Criminal Court from 2006 to 2008.^[1][3]

On 6 July 2008 in Bloemfontein, Mkhize was elected as National Treasurer of the ANC Women's League. She served under Angie Motshekga, who was elected as league president at the same elective conference.^[8] She remained in the treasury for a single extended term, which lasted until August 2015 due to delays in holding the next elective conference. She said that she raised more than R40-million in funds for the ANC Women's League during her tenure.^[9] In 2015, she did not stand for re-election, and she was succeeded as treasurer by Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.^[10]

She was first elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in the April 2009 general election, representing the ANC.^[11] She served in the assembly until her death in 2021, gaining re-election in 2014 and 2019.^[12] In addition, after the 2009 election, she was appointed as a deputy minister under the cabinet of newly elected President Jacob Zuma, who named her as Deputy Minister of Correctional Services under Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.^[13] Mkhize was viewed as a political supporter and ally of Zuma.^[11]

In a reshuffle announced on 31 October 2010, Mkhize was appointed as Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, under Minister Blade Nzimande.^[14][3] She served in that position until 12 June 2012, when she was appointed to succeed Enoch Godongwana as Deputy Minister of Economic Development under Minister Ebrahim Patel.^[15] Finally, in her fourth and final deputy ministerial position in Zuma's administration, she was appointed as Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services when that portfolio was established after the 2014 general election.^[16]

Late on 30 March 2017, Zuma announced another cabinet reshuffle in which Mkhize was promoted to his second-term cabinet, succeeding Malusi Gigaba as Minister of Home Affairs.^[17] Early in her tenure as minister, Mkhize attracted media attention for defending her predecessor's controversial decision to grant South African citizenship to members of the Gupta family, a decision that critics claimed amounted to unfair preferential treatment.^[18][19][20] Also controversial was Mkhize's decision to place Mkuseli Apleni, the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs, on precautionary suspension. Apleni said that she did not have proper grounds for the suspension and threatened to sue the ministry, while the Select Committee on Social Services raised its own doubts about the decision.^[21]

Mkhize spent less than a year in the home affairs portfolio before, on 17 October 2017, she was appointed as Minister of Higher Education and Training, succeeding her former boss, Blade Nzimande.^[22] While she was serving in this office, Mkhize attended the ANC's 54th National Conference, at which she was elected to a five-year term as a member of the party's National Executive Committee. By number of votes received, she was ranked 73rd of the committee's 80 ordinary members.^[23]

On 26 February 2018, Mkhize was sacked from the cabinet by Cyril Ramaphosa, who had recently succeeded Zuma as president.^[24] She was replaced by Naledi Pandor and retreated to the backbenches of the National Assembly, where she spent several months as an ordinary member of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation.^[12] On 6 November 2018, she was elected to chair the Portfolio Committee on Communications after the former chairperson, Humphrey Maxegwana, became chair of the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interest.^[25] She remained in the chair until after the May 2019 general election.^[12]

Pursuant to the 2019 general election, Ramaphosa appointed Mkhize as Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. She deputised Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.^[26] She served in the office until her death in 2021, making her last parliamentary appearance on 19 August 2021 when she cast her vote to elect Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as the Speaker of the National Assembly.^[2]