Lindiwe Maseko

Last updated

Lindiwe Maseko
20231108 Cartas Credenciales-Andrea Puentes.jpg
Maseko, 2023
South African Ambassador to Venezuela
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 July 2022
Preceded by Joyce Kgoali
Succeeded byNtombi Mekgwe
Personal details
Born2 March 1958 (1958-03-02) (age 66)
Alexandra, Transvaal
Union of South Africa
Political party African National Congress

Lindiwe Michelle Maseko (born 2 March 1958) is a South African politician who was appointed South African Ambassador to Venezuela in July 2022. She previously served as a Member of the National Assembly from 2014 to 2019 and as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2014; she was Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 2009 to 2014. She is a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and was Provincial Treasurer of the ANC in Gauteng from 2001 to 2010.

Contents

Early life

Maseko was born on 2 March 1958 in Alexandra township outside Johannesburg in the Transvaal, now part of Gauteng province. [1] She grew up in Diepkloof in Soweto, where she was a student at Orlando High School during the 1976 Soweto uprising. [2] In the 1980s, she was a member of the anti-apartheid Women Against Repression. [1]

She joined the African National Congress (ANC) and ANC Women's League after the ANC was unbanned by the apartheid government in 1990, and she subsequently held leadership positions in local branch structures of the party and the league in Gauteng. [2] In 1991, she was appointed personal assistant to provincial ANC leaders Tokyo Sexwale and Paul Mashatile; the job was based out of ANC headquarters at Shell House in Johannesburg. [3]

Provincial legislature

Gauteng legislature: 1994–2009

Maseko was first elected as Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in 1994 in South Africa's first post-apartheid election. [2] [3] Upon her re-election to the seat in 1999, she was elected Deputy Speaker in the provincial legislature; [1] upon her re-election in 2004, she became Chairperson of Committees in the legislature; [1] and in 2008, she was appointed the Chief Whip of the Majority Party, the ANC, in the legislature. [2]

For much of this period, she was also Provincial Treasurer of the ANC in Gauteng; she held that office for three terms, from 2001 to 2010, under Provincial Chairpersons Mbhazima Shilowa and Paul Mashatile. [4] [5] She was also a founding member of the Soweto Heritage Trust. [1] In 2004, she was elected to a three-year term as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. [6] She had previously held (and later held) [7] various leadership positions in the Africa section of the association. [1] [6] She chaired the national Political Office-Bearers Pension Fund from 2004 to 2009, [2] and in addition acquired several business interests of her own: by 2012, the Company and Intellectual Property Commission listed Maseko as a director of seventeen companies. [3]

Gauteng Speaker: 2009–2014

Pursuant to the 2009 general election, Maseko was re-elected to a fourth term in her seat in the provincial legislature and was elected Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature under Nomvula Mokonyane, the new Premier of Gauteng. [8] The first woman to hold the position, [3] she was deputised by Steward Ngwenya and, from August 2012, by Uhuru Moiloa. [9] In 2010, she banned Members of the Legislature from using the term "Alex mafia" in the legislature. [10]

In early 2012, Maseko was accused of fostering a conflict of interest when the R6.5-million opening of the provincial legislature was held at the Coca-Cola Dome, a venue in Mamelodi which contracted Delmont Caldow Caterers as its regular caterer. Maseko had previously been a director of Delmont Caldow, and her daughter Edna remained a director. [3] However, a spokesman pointed out that the legislature had not directly contracted with Delmont Caldow. [3] Later in 2012, the Star reported that Maseko had instructed her office to purchase various groceries worth R10,998; she said that the groceries were required by the office and were not intended for her personal consumption. [11] Maseko's conduct in both episodes was subject to investigation by the Gauteng Integrity Commissioner, Ralph Mgijima, and by the Privileges and Ethics Committee of the provincial legislature. Both investigations cleared her of personal wrongdoing, finding that she had not contravened the provincial ministerial code nor indulged in exorbitant or frivolous spending: she had not directly influenced the selection of the caterer for the legislative opening, and a six-month stock of groceries had been bought for her office due to poor supply chain management and record-keeping. [12]

National legislature

In the 2014 general election, Maseko left the provincial legislature and was elected to a seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of South Africa's national Parliament. She was ranked fourth on the ANC's regional party list for Gauteng. [1] She served as the ANC whip in the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology from 2014 to 2016, [2] and then chaired the same committee from 2017 to 2019. [1] She vacated her seat in the 2019 general election. [1] [2]

Later roles

As of August 2021, Maseko was chairperson of the board of City Power, the public electric utility in the City of Johannesburg. [13] In January 2022, she – alongside Ronald Lamola, Jeff Radebe, and Joel Netshitenzhe – was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to serve on an internal ANC committee which was tasked with guiding the ANC's response to the findings of the Zondo Commission. [7] In July of that year, Ramaphosa appointed her the South African Ambassador to Venezuela. [14]

Related Research Articles

Gwen Malegwale Ramokgopa is a South African politician who was elected the Treasurer-General of the governing African National Congress (ANC) in December 2022. She was formerly the Deputy Minister of Health under President Jacob Zuma from October 2010 to May 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Mashatile</span> Deputy President of South Africa since 2024

Paulus Shipokosa Mashatile is a South African politician who is the 9th Deputy President of South Africa. He became Deputy President of the governing African National Congress (ANC) in December 2022. Before his election to that position, he was ANC Treasurer-General from December 2017 and acting ANC Secretary-General from January 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nomvula Mokonyane</span> South African politician

Nomvula Paula Mokonyane is a South African politician who is currently the First Deputy Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC). She was the first female Premier of Gauteng from 2009 to 2014 and subsequently served in the national government as Minister of Water and Sanitation from 2014 to 2018, Minister of Communications in 2018, and Minister of Environmental Affairs from 2018 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parks Tau</span> South African politician

Mpho Franklyn Parks Tau is a South African politician who was appointed as Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition from 3 July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindiwe Zulu</span> South African politician

Lindiwe Daphney Zulu is a South African politician and communications strategist who served as Minister of Social Development from May 2019 to May 2024. Before that she was the Minister of Small Business Development from 2014 to 2019. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she has served on the party's National Executive Committee since December 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ntombi Mekgwe</span> South African politician

Ntombi Lentheng Mekgwe is a South African politician who was Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 2014 until 2024. Before that, she was a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) in the Gauteng provincial government from 2010 to 2014 and the third Mayor of Ekurhuleni from 2008 to 2010. She is a member of the African National Congress (ANC).

Lebogang Isaac Maile is a South African politician currently serving as Gauteng's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Finance and Economic Development. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he has served in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since May 2009 and in the Gauteng Executive Council since 2010.

Tshilidzi Bethuel Munyai is a South African politician who was elected as an African National Congress Member of the National Assembly of South Africa in 2019. In August 2021, Munyai served as the acting chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health. He resigned from Parliament in January 2023 and was subsequently sworn in as a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

The 55th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) took place from 16 to 20 December 2022 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng. Attended by 4,426 voting delegates, the conference elected the party's 87-member National Executive Committee, including the party's top officials – for the first time known as the Top Seven, rather than the Top Six, after the conference amended the party's constitution to introduce a second deputy secretary-general position. Delegates also adopted resolutions on the party's governance and policy positions, with consideration of the outcomes of the ANC's 6th National Policy Conference, held in late July 2022.

Nkenke Nathaniel "Nat" Kekana is a South African politician and businessman. He is a former Member of Parliament.

The Executive Council of Gauteng is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of Gauteng. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature by the Premier of Gauteng, an office held since October 2022 by Panyaza Lesufi.

Humphrey Mmemezi is a South African politician and civil servant who has served as a Member of the National Assembly from March 2023. He previously served in the National Assembly between 2014 and 2019 and served as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works from 2017. He was formerly a Member of the Executive Council for Local Government and Housing in the Gauteng provincial government from 2010 to 2012. He resigned from the provincial government in July 2012 when he was found guilty of contravening the legislature's code of conduct and ethics, including in using his government credit card for personal expenses.

Gladstone Mandlenkosi "Mandla" Nkomfe is a South African politician who was Member of the Executive Council for Finance in the Gauteng provincial government from 2009 to 2014. From 1999 to 2014, he was a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, serving as the legislature's Chairperson of Committees and then as its Majority Chief Whip. He was also the Deputy Provincial Secretary of the Gauteng branch of his political party, the African National Congress, from 1998 to 2010.

Ignatius "Nash" Jacobs was a South African politician and strategist who served in the Executive Council of Gauteng, including as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education from 1999 to 2004 and as MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Works from 2004 to 2009. After he left the provincial legislature in 2009, he was the General Manager of his political party, the African National Congress, until 2017.

Sizakele Emelda Nkosi-Malobane is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Chairperson of Committees in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since 2019. She was formerly Gauteng's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Community Safety from 2014 to 2019, and she has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the provincial legislature since 2009.

Nandi Mayathula-Khoza is a South African politician who was a member of the Gauteng Executive Council from 2009 to 2019, most proximately as Member of the Executive Council for Social Development under Premier David Makhura from 2016 to 2019. She left the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in the 2019 general election and in 2021 was appointed chairperson of the board of South Africa's Central Drug Authority.

Dikgang "Uhuru" Moiloa is a South African politician who was Gauteng's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Local Government and Human Settlements from March 2018 to May 2019. He represented the African National Congress in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 1999 to 2019 and was formerly the Deputy Speaker in the legislature from 2014 to 2018.

Elias Khabisi Mosunkutu was a South African politician who served in the Gauteng Executive Council from 1999 to 2010 and in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 1995 to 2011. He was a member of the African National Congress (ANC).

Firoz Cachalia is a South African lawyer and politician who was a Member of the Gauteng Executive Council from 2004 to 2010. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist in the Transvaal, he first joined the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in 1994, representing the African National Congress, and he served as Speaker of the provincial legislature from 1999 to 2004. After he left the provincial government he was appointed as a law professor at Wits University and, from 2022, as the chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Lindiwe Michelle Maseko". People's Assembly. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Board of Directors". Women + Men Against Child Abuse. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Serrao, Angelique (28 February 2012). "Speaker's daughter cooks up a storm". IOL. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "Lindiwe Maseko". Manzi Mashatile Foundation. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. ↑ "'Nation has been misled' over Selebi". The Mail & Guardian. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  6. 1 2 "South Africa welcomes the Election of Ms Lindiwe Maseko, Gauteng MPL, as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians". Department of International Relations and Cooperation. 30 September 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  7. 1 2 Grootes, Stephen (26 January 2022). "ANC's Days of Zondo: Ramaphosa's 'task team' faced with a task from hell". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  8. ↑ "Mokonyane makes history in Gauteng". The Mail & Guardian. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  9. ↑ "Gauteng Legislature given shake up". The Mail & Guardian. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "Meet Malema's new rival". The Mail & Guardian. 14 January 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  11. ↑ "Gauteng speaker's groceries were for office". Sunday Times. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  12. ↑ Benjamin, Chantelle (1 August 2012). "Gauteng 'big spenders' probe results out". Corruption Watch . Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  13. ↑ Wa Afrika, Mzilikazi (29 August 2021). "New CEO faces off with Joburg power utility". IOL. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Embajadora de Sudáfrica presenta cartas credenciales al Presidente Maduro". Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela (in Spanish). 25 July 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.