Barbara Anne Hogan (born 28 February 1952) is a former

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

and of Public Enterprises in the

Cabinet of South Africa The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the president, the deputy president, and the ministers. Overview The cabinet of South Africa consists of the Presi ...

Early life

Hogan attended St Dominic's Catholic School for Girls, Boksburg, and gained a degree at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

. Hogan has qualifications in Accounting and Economics.

Political activity

Hogan joined the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

in 1976 after the

Soweto Uprising The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from various schools began to p ...

, many years after the organisation had been declared illegal and had moved its activities underground. Her responsibilities in this movement were to mobilise the white political left, participate in public political campaigning and supply the ANC underground in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

with information about trade union and community activity in South Africa. Hogan was detained in 1982 for ‘furthering the aims of a banned organisation’ and after being interrogated, ill-treated and held in solitary confinement for one year, she became the first woman in South Africa found guilty of high treason and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Hogan was released in 1990 with the unbanning of outlawed organisations and together with other political prisoners, most notably

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

. Upon release she played a pivotal role in restructuring the ANC in her capacity as secretary of the PWV regional office.

Career

When

Kgalema Motlanthe Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (; born 19 July 1949) is a South African politician who served as the 3rd president of South Africa from 25 September 2008 to 9 May 2009, following the resignation of Thabo Mbeki. Thereafter, he was deputy president und ...

took office as president on 25 September 2008, he appointed Hogan as Minister of Health to replace

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Mantombazana "Manto" Edmie Tshabalala-Msimang Order for Meritorious Service, OMSS (née Mali; 9 October 1940 – 16 December 2009) was a South African politician. She was Deputy Minister of Justice from 1996 to 1999 and served as Minister of He ...

."South Africa: New President Removes Health Minister"
allAfrica.com, 25 September 2008 Hogan was named Minister of Public Health in September 2008 on the basis of her financial managerial skills, which were urgently needed in the rundown Department of Health, according to her in a 2008 interview by News24. Although Hogan was not a medical professional, she said that she had a very capable deputy, Dr Molefi Sefularo, who was a medical doctor and had been very engaged in the healthcare sector. Hogan helped the South African government address the

AIDS pandemic The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

among South Africans after almost a decade of denial and neglect by the previous Minister of Health,

. Hogan is a member of the advisory board of the Amandla AIDS Fund (AAF), which was established by the nonprofit organisation Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA) in 2003 with a $2.5 million donation from Carlos and Deborah Santana, which represented the entire net proceeds of the 2003 U.S. Summer Santana Shaman tour. AAF provides grants to effective South African efforts to combat AIDS and also develops innovative, collaborative programmes. Amandla means "strength" or "power" in Zulu,

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

and other South African languages. The AAF advisory board, formerly chaired by the late Archbishop

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, includes leading South African

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

experts and AIDS activists who help select effective South African organisations and programmes to receive grants. In the past year, AAF has allocated and granted over $1.25 million to HIV/AIDS advocacy, prevention and treatment programmes.http://www.ansafrica.org ANSA also works to further civil rights and safeguard voting rights in the

U.S The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In May 2009, she was appointed to the Ministry of Public Enterprises, from which she was axed in 2010 by President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

. In December 2015, she denounced the president for sacking the then finance minister (Nhlanhla Nene) and called on the citizenry to "rise up and say enough is enough."

Zondo Commission Inquiry into state capture

In 2018, Hogan testified before The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, stating that former president

had pressured her into appointing Siyabonga Gama as Transnet CEO, "despite him facing allegations of misconduct."

Honours

Hogan was included in the 2009 ''Time'' 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. On 13 April 2011, Hogan received an honorary doctoral degree from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, alongside her life-partner

Ahmed Kathrada Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG (21 August 1929 – 28 March 2017), sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. Kathrada's involvement in the anti-apartheid activities of the African Natio ...

Personal life

Barbara Hogan met Ahmed Kathrada after her release from prison in 1990.

References

External links

The South African History Archive: Barbara HoganANSA Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogan, Barbara 1952 births Living people Ministers of health of South Africa South African prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of South Africa People convicted of treason against South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2004–2009 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2009–2014 African National Congress politicians University of the Witwatersrand alumni South African people of Irish descent White South African anti-apartheid activists South African anti-apartheid activists Women government ministers of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa 20th-century South African women politicians