Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma

Early years

Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini, a Zulu, was born in Natal, the eldest of eight children. She completed high school at the Amanzimtoti Training College in 1967.

In 1971, she started her studies in Zoology and Botany at the University of Zululand, where she obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Science (BSc). She subsequently began her medical studies at the University of Natal, where she became an active underground member of South African Students Organisation, and was elected as its deputy president in 1976. She was exiled in the same year and finished her studies abroad at the University of Bristol in the UK in 1978.

Subsequently, she worked as a doctor at the Mbabane Government Hospital in Swaziland, where she met her future husband, current ANC party president Jacob Zuma. Dlamini-Zuma has also been awarded honorary Doctor of Law degrees by both the University of Natal and the University of Bristol.

ANC

In 1985, Dlamini-Zuma returned to the United Kingdom to complete a diploma in tropical child health from Liverpool University's School of Tropical Medicine. After receiving her diploma, she worked for the ANC Regional Health Committee before accepting the position of director of the Health and Refugee Trust, a British non-governmental organisation. During the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) negotiations in 1992, she was part of the Gender Advisory Committee.

She was suggested as a possible ANC candidate for the Presidency in the 2009 election and for the leadership of the party.

Dlamini-Zuma was nominated for the ANC political party's deputy presidency by four provinces aligned to President Thabo Mbeki, while the five provinces backing her ex-husband ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma preferred her as the national chairperson. She was elected to the ANC's 80-member National Executive Committee in December 2007.

The speculation of another cabinet reshuffle mounted up stating her to replace with Blade Nzimande as a Higher Education Minister which she denied later.

Health Department

After the first all-inclusive South African elections of 1994, Dlamini-Zuma was appointed as Minister of Health in the cabinet of President Nelson Mandela, where she continued the work of previous Minister of Health Rina Venter to racially desegregate the health system and broaden state anti-tobacco measures. Dlamini-Zuma introduced the Tobacco Products Amendment Bill in 1999, which made it illegal to smoke in public buildings.

HIV/AIDS and Sarafina II

In August, 1995, against South African Communications Services recommendations for "cheaper and better" HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, the Department of Health awarded a R14.27m contract to Mbongeni Ngema, a "good friend" of Dlamini-Zuma's, to produce a sequel to the musical, Sarafina.

Investigations into Sarafina II revealed that Dlamini-Zuma had lied to Parliament about funding for the project coming from the EU, and had ignored proper bidding procedures.

Following criticism of the poor financial controls and commissioning procedures in a report by the Public Protector, the play was shelved.

Dlamini-Zuma was also criticised for supporting Virodene, a "quack remedy" for HIV/AIDS, which was in fact a toxic industrial solvent rejected by the scientific community as ineffective.

Foreign Affairs Department

Dlamini-Zuma served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2009, under both President Thabo Mbeki and interim President Kgalema Motlanthe, during which tenure she was criticised for her "quiet diplomacy" in response to Zimbabwe's violent land invasions and anti-white racism.

Home Affairs Department

She served in her ex-husband Jacob Zuma's 2009 presidential cabinet as Minister of Home Affairs from 10 May 2009 until 2 October 2012. She was lauded for turning around the grossly mismanaged department and achieving its first clean audit in 16 years.

African Union

In January 2012, while still heading the Department of Home Affairs, Dlamini-Zuma contested the position of Chairperson of the African Union Commission. In doing so, she broke an "unwritten rule" that major African powers do not put forward candidates for AU positions.

This angered many AU states, leading to a deadlock in the first election, despite Dlamini-Zuma's backing by the fifteen states comprising the Southern African Development Community; as a consequence of the failure to secure a two-thirds majority of the vote, incumbent Jean Ping's term was extended by six months, until a second election on July 15 at the nineteenth session of the Assembly of the African Union elected Dlamini-Zuma to the position. The vote was largely divided along language lines—Francophone states against Anglophone states.

Dlamini-Zuma was unpopular and disliked among AU officials for her apparent disinterest and aloofness, and her absenteeism. Her leadership as Chairperson was considered a disappointing failure, although she was praised for the managerial improvements she made.

Controversy

On 7 April 2017, Dlamini-Zuma received scorn for labeling protest marches against Jacob Zuma as "rubbish" and for characterising them as examples of white privilege.

Her verified Twitter account posted "This is what they are protecting ... hence some of us are not part of this rubbish. They must join us for the march for our land they stole...” and deleted the tweet shortly thereafter. Dlamini-Zuma referred to the missive as a "fake tweet" afterwards.

Personal life

Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini married Jacob Zuma, with whom she has four children: Msholozi (born 1982); Gugulethu Zuma-Ncube (born 1985), who married the son of Zimbabwean politician and President of the MDC, Welshman Ncube; "Thuli" Nokuthula Nomaqhawe (born 1987); and their youngest daughter, Thuthukile Zuma, who was appointed Chief of Staff of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services in 2014. Dlamini, Zuma's third wife, divorced him in June 1998.