Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula (born 13 November 1956) is a South African politician who currently serves as the Speaker of the National Assembly as of 19 August 2021. She has previously held the office of

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans (formerly the Minister of Defence) is a Minister (government), Minister in the Government of South Africa, who is responsible for overseeing the Department of Defence (South Africa), Department of Def ...

from June 2012 to August 2021. She was also the

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2004 to 2009 and Minister of Correctional Services from 2009 to 2012.

Early life and education

Mapisa-Nqakula obtained a primary teacher's diploma from the Bensonvale Teachers College.

Career

In 1984, she left South Africa to undergo military training in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. During this time she served as the head of a commission that was set up by the ANC to investigate desertions of

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members to the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

(UNHCR) in Angola. For several years she worked with political military structures within the ANC and was deployed to help rebuild ANC structures. In 1993, she became the

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the ANC Women's League. Before her appointment as Minister of Home Affairs, she held the position as Deputy-Minister of the department. Following violent riots that occurred in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July 2021, she faced calls to resign as Defence and Military Veterans' Affairs minister due to the national defence force not being prepared for it. On 5 August 2021, president Ramaphosa reshuffled his cabinet, in which he removed Mapisa-Nqakula as Minister and replaced her with National Assembly speaker

Thandi Modise Thandi Modise (born 25 December 1959) is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. She was previously the Premier of the North West from 2010 to 2014, Chairperson of the National Cou ...

. He said that Mapisa-Nqakula "will be redeployed to a new position." On 19 August 2021, Mapisa-Nqakula was elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly, effectively swapping positions with Modise. Mapisa-Nqakula was nominated for another term on the ANC NEC ahead of the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022, however, at the conference she did not receive enough votes to be re-elected to the 80 seat structure.

Controversy

Since 2016, Mapisa-Nqakula has been involved in a number of controversies, including allegations of contravening health protocols and inappropriately using state resources. Shortly before her election as Speaker, it was announced that she was under investigation for allegedly receiving a R5 million bribe from a defence contractor, spending R7 million on aircraft charters and luxury hotels.

Personal life

She is married to Charles Nqakula. In July 2020, Mapisa-Nqakula and her husband tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. They have both recovered.

References

1956 births African National Congress politicians Correctional Services ministers of South Africa Defence ministers of South Africa Female defence ministers Female interior ministers Living people Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Ministers of Home Affairs of South Africa Women government ministers of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Xhosa people Women legislative speakers {{SouthAfrica-politician-stub