Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele

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Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele
Deputy Secretary General of the African National Congress
In office
December 2002 – December 2007
PresidentThabo Mbeki
SecretaryKgalema Motlanthe
Preceded byThenjiwe Mtintso
Succeeded byThandi Modise
Minister of Housing
In office
1995–2003
PresidentNelson Mandela
Thabo Mbeki
Preceded byJoe Slovo
Succeeded byBrigitte Mabandla
Personal details
Born
Sankie Dolly Mthembi

(1951-03-23) 23 March 1951 (age 73)
Sophiatown, Johannesburg
Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouse(s)Winston Nkondo (divorced)
Mohale Mahanyele
​
​
(m. 1996; died 2012)​
ChildrenNare
Alma materUniversity of the North

Sankie Dolly Mthembi-Mahanyele (née Mthembi; born 23 March 1951), formerly known as Sankie Mthembi-Nkondo or Sankie Nkondo, is a South African politician, diplomat, and former anti-apartheid activist. She was the Minister of Housing from 1995 to 2003 and served as Deputy Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC) from 2002 to 2007.

Early life and activism[edit]

Mthembi-Mahanyele was born on 23 March 1951[1] in Sophiatown in Johannesburg.[2] She matriculated at Sekane-Ntoane High School in Soweto in 1970 and then attended the politically tumultuous University of the North, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1976.[2]

After graduating, Mthembi-Mahanyele went into exile abroad with the African National Congress (ANC), which was then based in Lusaka, Zambia. She was a journalist on Radio Freedom and worked under Thabo Mbeki in the ANC's department of international affairs.[3] During this period (and thereafter),[4] she wrote literature under the pseudonym Rebecca Matlou.[5][3]

Post-apartheid political career[edit]

Government[edit]

After the end of apartheid in 1994, she was appointed Deputy Minister of Welfare in the South African government, under President Nelson Mandela.[3] She stood for election as the ANC's Deputy Secretary-General at the ANC's 49th National Conference in December 1994, but – although she was believed to have the support of Mandela, Mbeki, and Jacob Zuma – lost "decisively" to the more left-wing candidate, Cheryl Carolus.[3]

Following the death of Joe Slovo, she was Minister of Housing from early 1995 to early 2003, serving under both Mandela and his successor, Mbeki.[6] In 1999, she sued the Mail & Guardian for defamation, in connection to the newspaper's claim in December 1998 that Mthembi-Mahanyele had awarded a housing contract to a friend; the Supreme Court of Appeal ultimately agreed with the Johannesburg High Court that the report did not amount to defamation.[7][8] In 2003, she won an award from United Nations Habitat for her work in the housing portfolio.[9]

Later career[edit]

Mthembi-Mahanyele's resignation from the cabinet followed her election as Deputy Secretary-General of the ANC at the party's 51st National Conference in December 2002.[10] She served in that position until the 52nd National Conference in December 2007, when she did not stand for re-election. In later years, she served as chairman of South Africa's Central Energy Fund from February 2012 until her resignation in 2015.[11][12] She was South Africa's Ambassador to Switzerland from 2018 until 2022,[13] when she was appointed Ambassador to Spain.

Personal life[edit]

While in exile, Mthembi-Mahanyele was married to Zinjiva Winston Nkondo and was known as Sankie Mthembi-Nkondo. Nkondo was also an ANC activist and writer (under the pseudonym Victor Matlou);[5] they divorced.[3] In 1996, Mthembi-Mahanyele married Mohale Mahanyele (born 1939, died 2012), a businessman.[14] They had one daughter, Nare, together.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Sankie Dolly Mthembi-Mahanyele, Ms". South African Government. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b Women Marching Into the 21st Century: Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodo. HSRC Press. 2000. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-7969-1966-3.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gevisser, Mark (20 January 1995). "The poet with a politician's instincts". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Healing from the armed struggle through poetry and prose". Rhodes University. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b Narismulu, Gayatri Priyadarshini (1998). Locating the popular-democratic in South African resistance literature in English, 1970-1990 (PhD thesis). University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  6. ^ "A Tearful Exit for Outgoing Housing Minister". allAfrica. 24 February 2003. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  7. ^ Milo, Dario (1 January 2005). "The cabinet minister, the Mail & Guardian, and the report card : the Supreme Court of Appeal's decision in the Mthembi-Mahanyele case : notes". South African Law Journal. 122 (1): 28–43. hdl:10520/EJC53619.
  8. ^ "It's an F, Sankie, and that's final". The Mail & Guardian. 2 August 2004. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  9. ^ "UN awards ANC's leader". News24. 5 October 2003. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  10. ^ "51st National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected". African National Congress. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  11. ^ "New PetroSA CEO welcomed". South African Government News Agency. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Sankie Storms Out The Door". Africa Oil+Gas Report. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Refugees, xenophobia in SA top agenda for Western Govts - Ambassador Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele". BizNews. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  14. ^ Barron, Chris (16 September 2012). "Mohale Mahanyele: pioneer of BEE ended career under a cloud". Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  15. ^ Monama, Tebogo (12 September 2012). "Mahanyele is no more". Sowetan. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
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