Naledi Pandor

Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor (née Matthews; born 7 December 1953) is a South African politician, educator and academic who served as the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation from 2019 until 2024. She also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the African National Congress (ANC) from 1994 to 2024.

Born in Durban, Pandor completed high school in Botswana. She qualified as a teacher and taught at multiple schools and universities, while she achieved various degrees from different universities. Pandor took office as a Member of Parliament in 1994. She soon became Deputy Chief Whip of the ANC caucus in 1995. She was elected Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces in 1998 and became chairperson in 1999.

She initially became a member of the national cabinet in 2004, following President Thabo Mbeki's decision to appoint her as Minister of Education. She retained her post in the cabinet of Kgalema Motlanthe. Newly elected President Jacob Zuma named her Minister of Science and Technology in 2009. She served in the position until her appointment as Minister of Home Affairs in 2012. She returned to the post of Minister of Science and Technology in 2014 and held it until 2018, when she became Minister of Higher Education and Training in the first cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa. After the 2019 general election, Pandor was mentioned as a possible candidate for Deputy President of South Africa. She was instead appointed Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. Pandor unsuccessfully stood for re-election to the National Assembly at the 2024 general election.

Grace Naledi Mandisa Matthews was born on 7 December 1953 in Durban, Natal, to Regina Thelma (died 2002) and Joe Matthews (1929–2010), a political and anti-apartheid activist and the son of academic Z. K. Matthews (1901–1968). She received her primary and secondary education in Botswana. She matriculated from Gaborone Secondary School. Between 1973 and 1977, she achieved a Certificate for Continuing Education and a bachelor's degree from the University of Swaziland and the University of Botswana, respectively. She then went overseas and fulfilled a Diploma in Education and an MA degree from the University of London between 1978 and 1979.

Pandor obtained a diploma in higher education, administration and leadership from the Bryn Mawr Summer Programme in 1992, and soon enrolled at Harvard Kennedy School to receive a diploma in leadership in development in 1997. She also attained an MA degree in linguistics from the University of Stellenbosch in the same year. Pandor received her PhD in education at the University of Pretoria in 2019, with a thesis titled "The contested meaning of transformation in higher education in post-apartheid South Africa".

Pandor became a teacher at the Ernest Bevin School in London in 1980. She was subsequently employed as a teacher in Gaborone from 1981 to 1984, and as an instructor at the Taung College of Education from 1984 to 1986. Pandor worked as a senior lecturer in English at the University of Bophuthatswana from 1986 to 1989, and then as a senior fellow in the Academic Support Programme of the University of Cape Town from 1989 to 1994.

While at the University of Bophuthatswana, Pandor served as the chair of the university's Union of Democratic Staff Associations between 1988 and 1990. She was appointed the chairperson of the Western Cape National Executive Committee of the National Education Coordinating Committee in 1991 and served in the position until 1993. At the same time, she was part of the ANC's Western Cape Education Committee.

Additionally, Pandor chaired the ANC Athlone Central branch, while serving as both the head of the Desmond Tutu Education Trust and the Western Cape School Building Trust.