Bukelwa Mbulawa

Bukelwa Mbulawa
Member of the National Assembly
In office until April 2004
Personal details
Born	(1954-04-19) 19 April 1954 (age 70)
Citizenship	South Africa
Political party	African National Congress (since March 1999)
Other political affiliations	Democratic Party (until March 1999)

Bukelwa Gilberta Mbulawa-Hans (born 19 April 1954) is a South African politician and the first black woman to represent the DP in the National Assembly. ^[1] Mbulawa is from the Eastern Cape and served in the National Assembly until 2004. She represented the Democratic Party (DP) until March 1999, when she defected to the African National Congress (ANC), she left parliament in April 2004.

Political career

During the first democratic Parliament, Mbulawa became the first black woman to represent the DP in the National Assembly. ^[1] However, in March 1999, she announced that she would defect to the ANC; she therefore resigned from her DP seat and was sworn in to an ANC one. ^[2] In her first speech to the National Assembly afterwards, she described the DP as follows:

They are the new custodians of popular right-wing politics. The protectors of the old order. The promoters of historic injustice. The prophets of the past. Their only camouflage is their magical phrase, 'liberalism'. ^[3]

Mbulawa was re-elected to a full-term in the National Assembly under the ANC's banner in the 1999 general election. ^[4] She left Parliament after the 2004 general election, in which she was ranked in unelectable position on the ANC's party list. ^[5]

References

1. "DP defection to ANC". The Mail & Guardian. 24 March 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
2. "McKenzie defects". The Mail & Guardian. 25 March 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
3. "The rightward shift of the liberals". The Mail & Guardian. 30 April 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
4. "General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa . Vol. 408, no. 20203. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 11 June 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
5. "Yengeni's wife makes it onto ANC list". The Mail & Guardian. 25 November 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2023.