Beatrice Thembekile Ngcobo (18 July 1943 – 18 February 2018) was a South African politician and activist who represented 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 ...

(ANC) in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 2004 until her death in 2018. She served the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

constituency from 2009 onwards and chaired the

Portfolio Committee on Tourism The Portfolio Committee on Tourism is a portfolio committee in the National Assembly of South Africa. The committee scrutinises the work of the Department of Tourism and South African Tourism. Since September 2021, Tandi Mahambehlala of the Afri ...

from 2014 to 2018. Before joining

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, Ngcobo served in the

Commission for Gender Equality In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

from 1997 to 2004. A nurse by profession, she also taught nursing at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

and was a prominent activist for the rights of

disabled people Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

Early life and nursing career

Ngcobo was born on 18 July 1943 in

Port Shepstone Port Shepstone is a large town situated on the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, the largest river on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa. It is located halfway between Hibberdene and Margate, KwaZulu-Natal, Margate and is positioned 120&nbs ...

in the former

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

. She matriculated at

Inanda Seminary Inanda may refer to: * Inanda, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa * Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, a town outside Durban, South Africa * Inanda, Sourou, a village of Burkina Faso * , three ships of this name * 1325 Inanda 1325 Inanda, pr ...

, where she was a prefect, and trained as a nurse and

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

at McCord Hospital in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. In 1969, she enrolled at Wentworth Nursing College, where she completed a diploma in intensive nursing science, and she subsequently worked for many years as a nursing sister at Durban's Wentworth Hospital. Initially serving the surgical and medical cardiothoracic wards, she later worked in the trauma and emergency unit; as the night superintendent and trainer of

intensive care Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

nurses; and as part of the inaugural nursing team in the burns and plastic surgery unit, which was founded in 1981.

Activism and academic career

Disability activism

During her time at Wentworth Hospital, in 1978, Ngcobo's legs were paralysed by

spina bifida Spina bifida (SB; ; Latin for 'split spine') is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebral column, spine and the meninges, membranes around the spinal cord during embryonic development, early development in pregnancy. T ...

. She used a wheelchair thereafter but continued to work as a nurse and became active in activism for the rights of

. She was a founding member and long-time supporter of Disabled People South Africa, an affiliate of

Disabled Peoples' International Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) is a cross disability, consumer controlled international non-governmental organization (INGO) headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and with regional offices in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, Afri ...

, and also lobbied for the establishment of the Disabled Students Forum at her alma mater, the

University of Natal

Ngcobo completed a bachelor's in nursing science health services management at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

in 1988 and went on to enrol at the University of Natal, where she completed an advanced nursing education diploma in 1989 and a master's degree in 1992. From 1995, she worked as a lecturer in nursing at the University of Natal's Durban campus.

Gender activism

In 1997, President

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 ...

appointed Ngcobo to the inaugural

, where she served as a commissioner until 2004. She was a full-time commissioner for the provinces of

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

, in which capacity she was particularly interested in the rights of women in rural communities, and she also served as acting chairperson of the commission in 2002 after the expiry of Joy Piliso-Seroke's term.

Legislative career

Ngcobo was first elected to the

in the 2004 general election, although, due to a technicality regarding her eligibility which went unnoticed until 2005, she was not legally sworn in to the seat until 15 September 2005. She was re-elected to her seat in the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

elections, and from 2009 she represented the KwaZulu-Natal constituency. At the outset of her third term in Parliament in 2014, the ANC nominated her to chair the

. In her capacity as chairperson, she was admired for insisting on joining committee oversight visits to remote areas that were not easily accessed in a wheelchair, including, shortly before her death, the site of a new lighthouse at

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; , "Cape of Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the beginning of the traditional dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans according to the In ...

. Also in 2014, the ANC nominated her to serve as a member of the ad hoc committee that absolved 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 ...

of personal liability for controversial upgrades at his Nkandla homestead. Ngcobo fell ill after undergoing surgery in January 2018 and died on 18 February 2018. Her seat in the National Assembly was filled by Peggy Nkonyeni.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ngcobo, Beatrice 1943 births 2018 deaths African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African women politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2014–2019 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2009–2014 Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Politicians from KwaZulu-Natal People from Port Shepstone People with spina bifida South African disability rights activists Politicians with disabilities South African nurses University of South Africa alumni University of Natal alumni South African activists with disabilities