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Lindiwe Zulu
Lindiwe Daphney Zulu (born 21 April 1958) is a South African politician and communications strategist who served as Minister of Social Development from May 2019 to May 2024. Before that she was the Minister of Small Business Development from 2014 to 2019. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she has served on the party's National Executive Committee since December 2007.
Zulu entered politics during apartheid through the exiled ANC and rose to prominence as head of communications for the ANC Women's League during the negotiations to end apartheid. From 1999 to 2014, she worked in foreign affairs as a diplomat and political adviser; most notably she was South African Ambassador to Brazil from 2004 to 2009 and a foreign affairs adviser to President Jacob Zuma from 2009 to 2014.
She joined the National Assembly and Zuma's second-term cabinet after the 2014 general election. She remained in government for ten years before she lost her parliamentary seat in the 2024 general election.
Zulu was born on 21 April 1958 in Nhlazatshe in the former Eastern Transvaal. After the village's residents were forcibly removed to Madadeni in KwaZulu, her family moved to Swaziland. In the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising, large numbers of young South African political activists crossed the border into neighbouring Swaziland, and Zulu joined the African National Congress (ANC); her brother joined the Pan Africanist Congress.
Immediately after joining the ANC, she left Swaziland for Mozambique and then for Tanzania, where she attended the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College. A year into her education there, she received a scholarship to study journalism in Moscow. After seven years, she graduated with a Master's degree from the Patrice Lumumba University, by which time she was fluent in Russian. She returned to Tanzania, where she contributed to the ANC's internal newsletters until 1987, when she was sent to Angola for military training. She was the head of communications for the Pan-African Women's Organisation in Angola in 1988, and in 1989 she moved to Lusaka, Zambia, to head communications in the ANC's department of religious affairs. Her final posting, begun in 1990, was as administrator and head of communications in the ANC's Ugandan office.
In 1991, during the negotiations to end apartheid, Zulu returned to South Africa and became head of communications for the newly relaunched ANC Women's League. She was elected to the league's National Executive Committee in 1993. Also in 1993, she was seconded to the information and publicity department of the mainstream ANC in order to serve as the party's spokesman ahead of the first post-apartheid elections in 1994.
In the 1994 election, Zulu was elected to an ANC seat in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. The following year, she was appointed as Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, deputising Trevor Fowler. At the same time, in February 1995, she was a prominent member of a group of ANC Women's League leaders who resigned in protest of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's leadership of the league.
From 1999 to 2001, Zulu was a special adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Then, from 2001 to 2003, she worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs as chief director for west and central Africa. She reportedly remained close with Minister Dlamini-Zuma and even was rumoured to be the minister's favoured candidate for promotion to director-general of the department. In 2003, Zulu took a brief hiatus from political work to become an executive for Vodacom, with responsibility for government and international relations.
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Lindiwe Zulu
Lindiwe Daphney Zulu (born 21 April 1958) is a South African politician and communications strategist who served as Minister of Social Development from May 2019 to May 2024. Before that she was the Minister of Small Business Development from 2014 to 2019. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she has served on the party's National Executive Committee since December 2007.
Zulu entered politics during apartheid through the exiled ANC and rose to prominence as head of communications for the ANC Women's League during the negotiations to end apartheid. From 1999 to 2014, she worked in foreign affairs as a diplomat and political adviser; most notably she was South African Ambassador to Brazil from 2004 to 2009 and a foreign affairs adviser to President Jacob Zuma from 2009 to 2014.
She joined the National Assembly and Zuma's second-term cabinet after the 2014 general election. She remained in government for ten years before she lost her parliamentary seat in the 2024 general election.
Zulu was born on 21 April 1958 in Nhlazatshe in the former Eastern Transvaal. After the village's residents were forcibly removed to Madadeni in KwaZulu, her family moved to Swaziland. In the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising, large numbers of young South African political activists crossed the border into neighbouring Swaziland, and Zulu joined the African National Congress (ANC); her brother joined the Pan Africanist Congress.
Immediately after joining the ANC, she left Swaziland for Mozambique and then for Tanzania, where she attended the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College. A year into her education there, she received a scholarship to study journalism in Moscow. After seven years, she graduated with a Master's degree from the Patrice Lumumba University, by which time she was fluent in Russian. She returned to Tanzania, where she contributed to the ANC's internal newsletters until 1987, when she was sent to Angola for military training. She was the head of communications for the Pan-African Women's Organisation in Angola in 1988, and in 1989 she moved to Lusaka, Zambia, to head communications in the ANC's department of religious affairs. Her final posting, begun in 1990, was as administrator and head of communications in the ANC's Ugandan office.
In 1991, during the negotiations to end apartheid, Zulu returned to South Africa and became head of communications for the newly relaunched ANC Women's League. She was elected to the league's National Executive Committee in 1993. Also in 1993, she was seconded to the information and publicity department of the mainstream ANC in order to serve as the party's spokesman ahead of the first post-apartheid elections in 1994.
In the 1994 election, Zulu was elected to an ANC seat in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. The following year, she was appointed as Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, deputising Trevor Fowler. At the same time, in February 1995, she was a prominent member of a group of ANC Women's League leaders who resigned in protest of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's leadership of the league.
From 1999 to 2001, Zulu was a special adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Then, from 2001 to 2003, she worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs as chief director for west and central Africa. She reportedly remained close with Minister Dlamini-Zuma and even was rumoured to be the minister's favoured candidate for promotion to director-general of the department. In 2003, Zulu took a brief hiatus from political work to become an executive for Vodacom, with responsibility for government and international relations.
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