Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Biography – Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Wiki
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi was a South African politician who was the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. She was also President of the National Freedom Party (NFP). Before being elected to Parliament, she served for nineteen years as a councilor, fifteen of those years as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality. Previously. she was the chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the IFP’s candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal in the 2009 general election.
On May 7, 2014, her new party successfully contested the 2014 South African general elections by receiving 288,742 (1.57%) of the national votes. This outcome placed the NFP in fifth place, winning 6 seats in the National Assembly. She has worked as a former school principal who held a BA degree from the University of Zululand and diplomas (in further education) from the then-University of Natal and (in local government) from the then-University of Durban-Westville.
Having joined the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) as a teenager in 1975, she grew up within the IFP. She first served as branch chairperson in 1976. Thereafter, she joined the executive committee of the Youth and the Women’s Brigade in 1988 (13 years later). This was followed by the deputy chairperson’s position of the Youth Brigade (1998-2003) and later she became the national secretary of the Women’s Brigade.
Prior to this, she had occupied several senior administrative positions in the local and town councils and played a leading role in numerous community projects. In 1995, she was the only woman on the executive board of the Nongoma Transitional Local Council. In 1996, she became chairperson of the Emakhosini sub-region, which comprised Ulundi and Babanango. She was appointed as the first mayor of the Zululand District Municipality in 2000 after the first local government elections in the new dispensation.
In 2005, she unsuccessfully contested the position of IFP Deputy National Chairperson, losing to Stanley Dladla. However, when the National Chairperson, Ziba Jiyane, left the party to form the National Democratic Convention, Magwaza-Msibi was put forward as a candidate and elected unopposed at the 2006 national conference. As second-in-command in the IFP, she was touted as a potential successor to party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi when he decided to step down.
After the IFP’s dismal results in the 2009 general elections, members of the party started debating a change in leadership for the upcoming 2011 local government elections. With party leader Buthelezi previously stating in 2005 that he would not seek re-election, the succession battle brewed down to those supporting Magwaza-Msibi, old-guard leaders supporting general secretary Musa Zondi, and those in the National Council advocating Buthelezi to remain leader to preserve unity. Relations between Magwaza-Msibi and IFP leadership soured after her supporters began openly campaigning for her, with some being expelled from the party for “sowing division” in the party. In the end, she left the Inkatha Freedom Party and announced the formation of the National Freedom Party on January 25, 2011, in Durban, saying she accepted her expulsion from the IFP after “more than two years of marginalization and ostracism”. IFP leader Buthelezi, in response, described Magwaza-Msibi’s actions as establishing a party based on “disgruntlement and ambition” rather than ideologies or values and that he “struggled to understand how she could inflict such damage on a party she professed to love.”
The first election contested by the National Freedom Party was the 2011 local government election, a few months after the party’s foundation. The NFP achieved success in KwaZulu-Natal and she became Mayor of Zululand District Municipality following a coalition deal between the NFP and the ANC to co-govern 19 hung municipalities in the province.
Following the National Freedom Party’s success in the 2014 general election, she decided to resign as Mayor of Zululand District Municipality in order to lead the NFP in Parliament. On May 25, 2014, President Jacob Zuma notified her of his intention to appoint her as Deputy Minister of Science & Technology. After consulting with party leadership, she accepted but stated her intention to remain autonomous and maintain her own views. The appointment was derided by members of the DA and IFP as Magwaza-Msibi having “sold out her supporters”. She was sworn in on the evening of June 6, 2014.
The NFP was barred from participating in the 2016 municipal elections because the party not paying its registration fee on time. The party’s support was greatly diminished in the May 2019 elections. She was not reappointed to the national cabinet and resigned from Parliament in June 2019, citing her intention to rebuild the party.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Age
She was born on February 1, 1962, in Makhosini, South Africa, and died on September 6, 2021. She was aged 59.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Husband
She has been the spouse of Mandla Msibi.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Daughter
She was the mother of actress Gugu Gumede.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Death
She died on September 6, 2021, at Umhlanga Hospital in Durban, South Africa at the age of 59 from cardiac arrest related to Covid-19. NFP secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe confirmed her death, saying the party was devastated as NFP members had hoped that she would recover. NFP MP Munzoor Shaik Emam said: “She had not been well. I am advised it is Covid-19 related. She has been in the ICU and unfortunately this morning she passed away.” He said Magwaza-Msibi’s untimely death “was indeed a great shock ((tinged)) with sadness”.
She was reported to have suffered a stroke on November 16, 2014, and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi Cause of Death
She died on September 6, 2021, at Umhlanga Hospital in Durban, South Africa at the age of 59 from cardiac arrest related to Covid-19.
