Elisa Sisi Mabe (21 August 1967 – 30 November 2014) was a South African politician 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

Free State Provincial Legislature The Free State Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Free State. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the Premier of the Free State, who in turn selects the members of the Executive ...

and

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the post-apartheid constitution of South Africa, constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate of South Africa# ...

. At the time of her death in 2014, she had recently been elected as the Speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature and as a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee. A teacher by training, Mabe entered politics through the

South African Democratic Teachers Union The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) is the largest trade union for teachers in South Africa. It is allied to the African National Congress and is an affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). History The ...

and was also active in the

ANC Women's League The African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) is an auxiliary women's political organization of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. This organization has its precedent in the Bantu Women's League, and it oscillated from ...

. Prior to her election as speaker in May 2014, she served in the

Free State Executive Council The Executive Council of the Free State is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of the Free State. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of ...

under Premier

Ace Magashule Elias Sekgobelo "Ace" Magashule (born 3 November 1959) is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who served as the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's governing party, between December ...

: she was a

Member of the Executive Council In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...

(MEC) for Health from 2009 to 2011 and MEC for Public Works from 2011 to 2014.

Early life and career

Mabe was born on 21 August 1967 in Phiritona in

Heilbron Heilbron is a town in the Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa which services the cattle, dairy, sorghum, sunflower and maize industries. Raw stock beneficiation occurs in leisure foods, dairy products and st ...

in the former

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

. She matriculated in Heilbron and obtained teaching diplomas at the Sefikeng College of Education in

QwaQwa QwaQwa was a Bantustan ("homeland") in the central eastern part of South Africa. It encompassed a very small region of in the east of the former South African province of Orange Free State, bordering Lesotho. Its capital was Witsieshoek. It was ...

. She later earned an

Honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, ...

in leadership and management from the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

. During her career as a teacher, Mabe was active in the

(SADTU), where she was elected to the executive and given responsibility for gender issues. She later became active in the

(ANCWL) and rose through the ranks to serve as Regional Treasurer of the ANCWL in the Free State. She was also a member of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

Political career

Executive Council: 2009–2014

Mabe formerly represented the ANC in the

. In the 2009 general election, she was elected to a seat in the

, ranked sixth on the ANC's provincial party list. After the election, on 11 May 2009, newly elected Premier

announced that Mabe would join the

as a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health. She remained in that office until February 2011, when, in a mid-term reshuffle, she was appointed MEC for Public Works. While she was serving as Public Works MEC, Mabe stood as a candidate at the ANC's 53rd National Conference in December 2012; she was elected to a five-year term as an ordinary member of the party's National Executive Committee. By number of votes received, she was the 32nd-most popular of the 80 ordinary members elected. She was also elected to the National Working Committee.

Speaker: 2014

In the next general election in 2014, Mabe was re-elected to her legislative seat, ranked second on the ANC's provincial party list. Instead of returning to the Executive Council, she was elected as Speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature. Her election was in line with the ANCWL's directive that provinces with a male Premier should elect a female Speaker. The ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', however, described her as "out of her depth" in the office.

Personal life and death

Less than a year after her election as Speaker, Mabe died in hospital in

Vereeniging, Gauteng Vereeniging ( ; ) is a city located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River (Gauteng), Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle r ...

on 30 November 2014. A government spokesperson said that her death followed a long illness. Her funeral was held in Heilbron in December. She was married to River Mabe, who predeceased her, and had three children. In April 2011, while Mabe was serving as Public Works MEC, '' City Press'' alleged that she had had an affair with national minister Sicelo Shiceka. According to the newspaper, they had a child together.

References

External links

* {{People's Assembly (South Africa), elisa-sisi-mabe, Elisa Sisi Mabe Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African politicians 1967 births 2014 deaths Legislative speakers in South Africa People from Heilbron Members of the South African Communist Party