Thembi Simelane

Thembisile Phumelele Simelane-Nkadimeng (born 10 February 1973) is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Minister of Human Settlements since December 2024. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she was previously the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs between March 2023 and June 2024 and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development between June 2024 and December 2024.

Formerly a student activist at Turfloop, Nkadimeng began her career as a public servant and entered professional politics in July 2014 as Mayor of Polokwane. In the last years of her mayoral term, she was additionally the president of the South African Local Government Association from 2019 to 2021. She joined the national government in August 2021, when President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed her as Deputy Minister Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Pursuant to the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022, Nkadimeng was elected to five-year terms on the party's National Executive Committee and National Working Committee. Ramaphosa promoted her to his cabinet in the aftermath of the conference, and she was appointed Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development after the May 2024 general election. She was reshuffled to Minister of Human Settlements in December 2024.

Simelane was born on 10 February 1973 in Bethal in the former Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga Province). As a high school student during the final years of apartheid, she was active in the Congress of South African Students.

She attended the University of the North, where she was mentored by Joyce Mashamba. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1994, a diploma in higher education in 1995, and Honours in 1997. At Turfloop, she remained active in student politics, both as a member (and later deputy president) of the student representative council and as a member of the South African Students Congress (SASCO); she was SASCO's provincial secretary in the Northern Transvaal (present-day Limpopo) between 1994 and 1996.

In 1997, Simelane began her career in post-apartheid public administration, and over the next decade she held positions in four different government departments, notably as director of communications in the Office of the Limpopo Premier from 2002 to 2006. From 2009 to 2013, she moved to the private sector as a corporate affairs manager for Anglo American Platinum. After leaving Anglo, she became managing director of Golden Threads, a consultancy specialising in corporate social investment whose clients included Anglo, BKS, and the public Industrial Development Corporation. Alongside her full-time career, she held leadership positions in local branches of the African National Congress (ANC) and its Women's League in Polokwane, Limpopo. In addition, she obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy in policy studies at Stellenbosch University in 2001 and completed the advanced management programme at the Wits Business School in 2009.

On 1 July 2014, as part of a broader reshuffle of Limpopo municipalities, the ANC announced that it would elect Nkadimeng as executive mayor of the Polokwane Local Municipality following the resignation of Freddy Greaver. She was re-elected to the mayoralty after the August 2016 local elections, defeating an opposition challenge by Frank Haas of the Democratic Alliance. The Sowetan said that she was a political ally of Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha.

Nkadimeng's mayoral term was marred by political difficulties. She twice stood unsuccessfully for election as regional chairperson of the ANC's Peter Mokaba branch in Capricorn District, losing to Motalane Monakedi in October 2014 and to John Mpe in July 2018. On the latter occasion, she faced death threats during her campaign, and her defeat led to a formal request by Mpe's leadership corps for Nkadimeng's removal from the mayoral office. The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters also called for her removal in 2021 after the Auditor-General handed the Polokwane municipality a qualified audit opinion.