Siviwe Gwarube | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minister of Basic Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 3 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
President | Cyril Ramaphosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Reginah Mhaule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Angie Motshekga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chief Whip of the Official Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 18 August 2022 –14 June 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Annelie Lotriet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | John Steenhuisen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Natasha Mazzone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Sihle Ngubane (Opposition) George Michalakis (DA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of the National Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 22 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | King William's Town,Cape Province South Africa | 14 July 1989||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Democratic Alliance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Rhodes University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Siviwe Gwarube (born 14 July 1989) is a South African politician who is currently serving as Minister of Basic Education since July 2024. A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA),she was the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition between August 2022 and June 2024. She joined the National Assembly of South Africa in the May 2019 general election.
Born in the Eastern Cape,Gwarube entered politics in 2012 as a spokesperson for DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko. During the Sixth Parliament,before her appointment as the DA's Chief Whip,she served as Shadow Minister of Health from June 2019 to February 2022,national spokesperson of the DA from November 2020 to August 2022,and Deputy Chief Whip from December 2021 to August 2022.
Born on 14 July 1989, [1] Gwarube grew up in KwaMdingi,a village outside King William's Town in the former Cape Province. [2] She was raised by her grandmother,who was an unmarried teacher. [3] After matriculating at the Kingsridge High School for Girls in King William's Town,she studied law,politics,and philosophy at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2012. [3]
In her final year as a student,Gwarube was recruited into the Democratic Alliance (DA) Young Leaders Programme. [3] In the programme she met Lindiwe Mazibuko,the Leader of the Opposition,who became her mentor. [4] In January 2012,shortly after graduating,Gwarube moved to Cape Town to begin work as a spokesperson in Mazibuko's office. [3] Thereafter she moved to the Western Cape Department of Health,where she was a spokesperson and head of ministry under Provincial Minister Nomafrench Mbombo. In the run-up to the 2019 general election,she was the DA's executive director of communications. [5]
In the May 2019 election,Gwarube was elected to represent the DA in the National Assembly,the lower house of the South African Parliament. She was also appointed as Shadow Minister of Health in the shadow cabinet of DA leader Mmusi Maimane,with Lindy Wilson as her deputy. [6] [7] She retained that position in the shadow cabinet of Maimane's successor,John Steenhuisen. [8] Her time in the health portfolio coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic,as well as with the Digital Vibes scandal concerning alleged corruption in the Department of Health; [2] in the latter connection,Gwarube laid criminal charges against Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. [9]
On 24 November 2020,Steenhuisen announced Gwarube's appointment as the DA's new national spokesperson,a position previously held jointly by Solly Malatsi and Refilwe Ntsheke. [10] [11] She was in that role for just over a year before the DA held its internal midterm caucus elections on 2 December 2021. In a heated contest to succeed Jacques Julius as deputy chief whip of the DA parliamentary caucus,Gwarube was victorious against Chris Hunsinger and Angel Khanyile. [12] [13] Alongside her new position as deputy chief whip,she continued to serve as DA national spokesperson and as Shadow Minister of Health,until in February 2022 she ceded the health portfolio to Michéle Clarke. [14]
On 18 August 2022,Gwarube was promoted to become chief whip of the DA caucus in the National Assembly;the incumbent,Natasha Mazzone,was sacked. [15] [16] Commentators remarked on Gwarube's "meteoric rise" through the caucus. [17] [18] In an editorial,Mondli Makhanya of City Press remarked that,although she was "an articulate,confident MP and party spokesperson whose voice you cannot miss",Gwarube remained relatively inexperienced;he warned her to guard against "being set up to fail". [19] Gwarube,however,said that she was prepared for the role and that she intended "to navigate this space very authentically". [20] Cilliers Brink and Solly Malatsi were appointed to take over her responsibilities as DA national spokesperson. [17]
Gwarube was re-elected to her parliamentary seat in the May 2024 general election,and she was a member of the four-member team that represented the DA during subsequent coalition negotiations with the African National Congress (ANC). [21] In line with the coalition agreement reached between the DA and ANC,President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed her as Minister of Basic Education. [22] The ANC's Reginah Mhaule was appointed as her deputy. [23] She was sworn in to office on 3 July 2024, [24] and George Michalakis replaced her as the DA's chief whip. [25]
Although the National Association of School Governing Bodies welcomed Gwarube's appointment to the education ministry, [26] the South African Democratic Teachers Union objected strongly,with union leader Mugwena Maluleke telling the press that her ascension was an "affront" to the union. [27] [28]
Lindiwe Desire Mazibuko is a South African writer,activist,and former politician. Between 2011 and 2014 she was the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa. She served in the National Assembly through the Fifth Parliament but resigned in May 2014.
Natasha Wendy Anita MazzoneMP OSI is a South African politician who served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from October 2019 until August 2022. She has been a Member of the National Assembly,representing the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA),since 2009. She was the second Deputy Federal Council Chairperson of the DA and the party's spokesperson on state capture. Mazzone has previously served as Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises and of Communications.
South Africa's Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet consists of Members of the National Assembly who scrutinise their corresponding office holders in the executive branch of government and develop alternative policies for their respective portfolios. The Democratic Alliance (DA) retained their position as official opposition in the 2019 general election and Mmusi Maimane announced his shadow cabinet on 5 June 2019.
Annelie Lotriet is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa since June 2024. She has served in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet since she joined the National Assembly in 2009. She is also a Deputy Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Council.
John Henry Steenhuisen is a South African politician who is currently serving as Minister of Agriculture since June 2024. He has been the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) since November 2020,having served as the interim leader for one year from November 2019. He served as the twentieth leader of the Opposition from October 2019 to June 2024. Pursuant to the 2024 South African general election,he was appointed to the third cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa when the DA joined the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Kevin John Mileham is a South African politician,a Member of the South African Parliament for the Democratic Alliance and the Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. Mileham was first elected to Parliament on 3 June 2013,replacing Athol Trollip. His first parliamentary role was as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development. After the 2014 National Elections,he was appointed the Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. In February 2019,he was appointed as Shadow Minister of Energy. After the National and Provincial Elections on 8 May 2019,Mileham was appointed as Shadow Minister of the expanded portfolio of Mineral Resources and Energy. Mileham was re-elected to Parliament in 2024.
Phumzile Thelma Van Damme is a South African tech consultant and activist who specialises in combating political disinformation and misinformation. A former politician,she represented the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the National Assembly of South Africa between May 2014 and May 2021. She was the party's Shadow Minister of Communications from October 2015 to December 2020.
The Shadow Cabinet of Mmusi Maimane was formed on 5 June 2014 in South Africa following his election as Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance and Leader of the Opposition on 29 May 2014. The Democratic Alliance parliamentary caucus also elected other caucus leadership. John Steenhuisen was elected Chief Whip with Anchen Dreyer as Caucus Chairperson. These elections all occurred following the 2014 general elections,in which the Democratic Alliance retained its post as the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa.
The 27th South African Parliament was the sixth Parliament of South Africa to convene since the introduction of non-racial government in South Africa in 1994. It was elected in the general election of 8 May 2019 and consists of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National Assembly contains 400 members,while the National Council of Provinces contains 90 members. It was formally opened by President Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address in a joint sitting on 20 June 2019.
Mmoba Solomon "Solly" Malatsi is a South African politician who is currently serving as Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies since July 2024. He has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2014. He has served in the national leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA) as a deputy federal chairperson since 2023. He has also been the party's national spokesperson since August 2022,previously holding the position from June 2018 to November 2020. Malatsi was also the Parliamentary Counsellor to the DA Parliamentary Leader. He has also held posts in the DA's shadow cabinet.
Jacques Warren William Julius is a South African Democratic Alliance politician from Gauteng who served as the Deputy Chief Whip of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2019 to December 2021. He was acting Chief Whip between the resignation of John Steenhuisen and the appointment of Natasha Mazzone in October 2019. He became a Member of the National Assembly in May 2019. Julius served a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces from May 2014 to May 2019.
Refiloe Nt'sekhe is a South African politician who has been a Member of the Provincial Legislature since 2014. She served as Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from June to July 2024. A member of the Democratic Alliance,she served as one of the party's deputy federal chairpersons between 2015 and 2023 and as one of the party's national spokespeople between 2015 and 2020.
Alexandra Lilian Amelia Abrahams is a South African politician serving as a Member of the National Assembly since May 2019. She was appointed as Shadow Deputy Minister of Social Development in December 2020. Abrahams is a member of the Democratic Alliance.
Michéle Odette Clarke is a South African politician. A member of the Democratic Alliance,Clarke served as a councillor in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality from 2004 until her election to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as a DA representative in 2014. After serving one term in the provincial legislature,Clarke was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in 2019. Within the DA's Shadow Cabinet,she served as Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration and as Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises before becoming Shadow Minister of health.
Andrew Grant Whitfield is a South African politician who is currently serving as Deputy Minister of Trade,Industry and Competition. He is also the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape.
Nazley Khan Sharif MPL is a South African politician who has been a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since 2024. She previously served in the National Assembly of South Africa and in the DA's Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Minister of Women,Youth and Persons with Disabilities from April 2023 until May 2024,having previously served as Deputy Minister between June 2019 and April 2023. Khan is a member of the Democratic Alliance.
The Shadow Cabinet of John Steenhuisen succeeded the Shadow Cabinet of Mmusi Maimane as the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet. After John Steenhuisen was elected unopposed as the parliamentary leader by the Democratic Alliance's caucus on 27 October 2019,he announced a new shadow cabinet,on 5 December 2020.
Thembisile Angel Khanyile is a South African politician who is a member of the National Assembly of South Africa representing the Democratic Alliance. Within the DA's Shadow Cabinet,she served as the Shadow Minister and Shadow Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.
Luyolo Mphithi is a South African politician who has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2019. A member of the Democratic Alliance,he served as Shadow Minister of Women,Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the Presidency from 2019 to 2023 and the Shadow Minister of Human Settlements from 2023 to 2024. Mphithi served as the Federal Leader of the DA's youth organisation from 2018 until his resignation in 2022. Luyolo Mphithi was elected as Vice President of the African Liberal Youth for democracy in Dakar,Senegal in 2022. He also serves as a Bureau Regional member of the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY).
Marina van Zyl is a South African politician from the Democratic Alliance and member of the National Assembly of South Africa.