Ayanda Dlodlo
Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | South Africa | 22 May 1963
Political party | African National Congress |
Ayanda Dlodlo (born 22 May 1963)[
Dlodlo is known for having been responsible for the state security portfolio during the 2021 civil unrest in South Africa, and has also been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee since 2007. In April 2022, she resigned from government to take up a directorship at the World Bank.
Early life
Dlodlo was born in her grandmother's house in
She received MK military training in Angola and later received military intelligence training in the Soviet Union.[2] Her work with MK included, in the first half of the 1980s, leading a unit which was responsible for infiltrating MK operatives across the Swazi border into Natal.[3] In 1990, she was elected head of the youth section of the ANC for England and Northern Ireland; she was abroad in order to pursue postgraduate studies at the London Institute of Shipping.[4] She ultimately earned a higher certificate in shipping and transport management (1990), a postgraduate diploma in business management (2017), and a Master of Business Administration (2020).[5]
Dlodlo remained in exile with the ANC until 1994, when apartheid was formally abolished. Upon her return, she learned that her sister, during her absence, had been killed by apartheid security forces, and that her mother had been traumatised by detention and torture.[2]
Career in business
Dlodlo's first post-apartheid job was at Portnet.
Dlodlo was also director of a company called VIP Consulting Engineers, during the period in which the company had sanitation contracts with the government in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. Because the company never fulfilled the contract, the National Treasury blacklisted the company and all its directors, including Dlodlo, restricting them from doing business with any level of government for five years between July 2012 and 2017.[7] By the time the blacklisting came into effect in 2012, Dlodlo was working in the national government and had resigned from the company.[7]
Career in government
Dlodlo was director of strategic operations at the Directorate of Special Operations, commonly known as the Scorpions, a specialised unit in the National Prosecuting Authority, but resigned in 2004.[8] After her resignation, she was investigated and then indicted on charges of fraud and theft relating to her work at the Scorpions between 2003 and 2004: she was alleged to have stolen some amount (disputed in various reports) from a confidential NPA fund and to have fraudulently inflated a payment to an informant by R30,000.[9][10] She was arrested in October 2006, but the charges against her were dropped in May 2007; she said she had expected it, given that the charges were "laughable".[11]
Dlodlo resigned from the Scorpions in 2004 to join the
Zuma presidency (2007–2018)
Between 2007 and 2012, she was
In November 2010, Zuma appointed Dlodlo his Deputy
During this period, she was implicated in two mild scandals. First, in 2015, while deputy minister, Dlodlo took a controversial holiday to the
Ramaphosa presidency (2018–2022)
When Zuma resigned in February 2018, Dlodlo was appointed Minister of Public Service and Administration in the first cabinet of his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, where she was tasked with restructuring the national public service.[23][17] However, after Ramaphosa was inaugurated for his first full term as president in May 2019, she became Minister of State Security in his second cabinet.[24] She was in this position during the July 2021 civil unrest in South Africa, which led to vigorous public and political debate about alleged intelligence failures by state security agencies. Dlodlo later said that she felt she had been unfairly scapegoated.[25] Weeks after the unrest, on 5 August 2021, Ramaphosa abolished the State Security portfolio and moved her back to the Public Service and Administration portfolio.[26] However, in early April 2022, Dlodlo resigned from the cabinet and the National Assembly to become an executive director on the board of the World Bank, with special responsibility for Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa.[5][27] She said she had handed in her resignation as early as October 2021, though Ramaphosa had not announced it until months later.[28][27]
Personal life
Dlodlo is married[citation needed] and has at least one son, Thabang Mnisi.[29]
References
- ^ a b c "Minister Ayanda Dlodlo: The Ministry for the Public Service and Administration's new champion for change". BBQ. 2 August 2018. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Home and Away – Ayanda Dlodlo". News24. 4 February 2012. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "Women of MK will not be forgotten". Sunday Tribune. 26 August 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Ayanda Dlodlo". Government of South Africa. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Ayanda Dlodlo Executive Director EDS25". World Bank. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "19 Cabinet members still have private business interests". News24. 27 July 2014. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Dlodlo blacklisted". News24. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Former Scorpions bosses appear in court". Independent Online. 13 October 2006. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Maughan, Karyn (28 November 2006). "Case against former top Scorpion 'sensitive'". Independent Online. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Scorpions stung in ongoing fraud probe". Independent Online. 14 October 2006. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Court clears former Scorpions head". The Mail & Guardian. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Delegates urged: Don't sell votes". News24. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "Full statement of the ANC hearing on Malema". News24. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "Gold Fields 'graft' shaft went deeper". The Mail & Guardian. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Zuma mends fences with axed Nyanda". News24. 26 November 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "Jacob Zuma's Cabinet: Who's in". News24. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b c Merten, Marianne (10 October 2018). "Ayanda Dlodlo: In the trenches of public service and administration – and reconfiguration of government". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Pravin Gordhan, Derek Hanekom among the axed". News24. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ Cowan, Kyle (17 October 2017). "Zuma announces cabinet reshuffle". Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Dlodlo found in breach of MPs' ethics code after Dubai hotel stay". The Mail & Guardian. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- ^ a b "I did not declare Dubai trip, admits Ayanda Dlodlo". Fin24. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- ^ "R1.5m of public money spent on cars for deputy minister Ayanda Dlodlo". Business Day. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Undeterred, Dlodlo forges ahead". The Mail & Guardian. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Karrim, Azarrah (3 June 2019). "Ayanda Dlodlo – a new ministry and forgotten controversies". News24. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ Omarjee, Hajra (7 April 2022). "I am being unfairly blamed for the July 2021 riots, says Ayanda Dlodlo". Business Day. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Ramaphosa's cabinet reshuffle – who's in, who's out?". News24. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- ^ a b Felix, Jason (4 April 2022). "Ramaphosa appoints Nxesi as acting Public Service Minister as Dlodlo heads to World Bank". News24. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
- ^ Qukula, Qama (8 April 2022). "Dlodlo 'deeply hurt' as she was 'scapegoated' for July unrest - report". EWN. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Bafana's Pienaar denies assault charge". News24. 5 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.