Baleka Mbete facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Baleka Mbete
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Mbete in 2016
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| 5th Deputy President of South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 September 2008 – 9 May 2009 |
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| President | Kgalema Motlanthe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kgalema Motlanthe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd and 5th Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 May 2014 – 21 May 2019 |
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| President | Jacob Zuma Cyril Ramaphosa |
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| Deputy | Lechesa Tsenoli | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Max Sisulu | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Thandi Modise | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 12 July 2004 – 25 September 2008 |
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| President | Thabo Mbeki | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Frene Ginwala | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 September 1949 Clermont, Durban Natal, Union of South Africa |
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| Political party | African National Congress | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Education | Inanda Seminary School Lovedale Teachers' College |
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Baleka Mbete (born 24 September 1949) is a well-known South African politician. She served as the Deputy President of South Africa from September 2008 to May 2009. She was also the Speaker of the National Assembly for two separate periods: from 2004 to 2008 and again from 2014 to 2019.
Before becoming Speaker, she was the Deputy Speaker between 1996 and 2004. Baleka Mbete is a member of the African National Congress (ANC), a major political party in South Africa. She was first elected to the National Assembly in 1994 and left her seat in 2019.
Born in KwaZulu-Natal, Baleka Mbete trained as a teacher. She was an important anti-apartheid activist, fighting against the unfair system of apartheid. She was involved with the Black Consciousness Movement early on. From 1976 to 1990, she lived outside South Africa as an exile with the ANC. During this time, she was also a poet and led the Medu Art Ensemble, a group focused on culture and art.
When she returned to South Africa, she helped with the talks to end apartheid. She also played a key role in restarting the ANC Women's League, serving as its secretary-general from 1991 to 1993.
Mbete was elected to the National Assembly in the first democratic elections in 1994. She served there until 2019, with a break from 2009 to 2014. She became Deputy Speaker in 1996 and later Speaker in 2004. In 2008, she became Deputy President when President Thabo Mbeki resigned. She held this role under President Kgalema Motlanthe.
After not returning to Parliament in 2009, she came back in May 2014 as Speaker. She left Parliament again after the 2019 elections but remained active in the ANC Women's League. She was the ANC's National Chairperson from 2007 to 2017 and a member of the National Executive Committee from 1994 to 2022.
Early Life and Education
Baleka Mbete was born on 24 September 1949. Her family belonged to the Hlubi people. She was born in Clermont, a township near Durban in what was then the Natal Province.
She spent some of her childhood with her grandmother in the Northern Transvaal. In 1958, her family moved to the Cape Province. Her father worked as a librarian at Fort Hare University but later lost his job due to his connection with the South African Communist Party. Her mother was a nurse. Baleka was the second child and the oldest daughter in her family.
After finishing school at the Inanda Seminary in 1968, Mbete studied at Eshowe Training College. She later moved to the teaching college at Lovedale in Alice. She became a qualified teacher in 1973 and taught at a high school in KwaMashu, Durban.
Fighting Apartheid
While teaching in Natal, Baleka Mbete became involved in the Black Consciousness Movement. This movement was very important in the fight against apartheid. In early 1976, Mbete and her brother were held by the authorities because of their political activities. After being released, she left South Africa for Swaziland on 10 April 1976, going into exile.
Life in Exile: 1976–1990
While in exile, Mbete joined the African National Congress (ANC), which was fighting against apartheid. She taught at a high school in Mbabane, Swaziland until 1977. Then, she moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Tanzania, she worked hard for the ANC. She joined the party's Department of Information and Publicity, where she worked on Radio Freedom. She also worked with the ANC's Women's Section, which was like the ANC Women's League at the time. Mbete was the regional secretary for the Women's Section in Tanzania from 1978 to 1981.
From 1981 to 1983, she was an ANC public relations officer in Nairobi, Kenya. Later, she worked in Gaborone, Botswana (1983 to 1986), Harare, Zimbabwe (1986 to 1987), and Lusaka, Zambia (1987 to 1990). Besides her work with the Women's Section, she was involved in cultural activities and education. She led the Medu Art Ensemble and was also a published poet, writing under her married name, Baleka Kgositsile.
Returning Home: 1990–1994
Baleka Mbete returned to South Africa from exile in June 1990. In the years that followed, she was part of the ANC's team that held negotiations to end apartheid. The ANC Women's League was also relaunched in August 1990. Mbete was part of the temporary leadership that helped set it up again.
At the league's first conference in April 1991, held in Kimberley, Mbete was elected as the secretary-general. She worked under President Gertrude Shope. She served one term in this role. In December 1993, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was elected to take her place.
Government Career
In South Africa's first democratic elections in April 1994, Baleka Mbete was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly. This was the start of her 25 years in the lower house of the South African Parliament. In December 1994, she was also elected to the ANC's National Executive Committee.
In 1995, Mbete became the chair of the ANC's group in Parliament. She also joined the Presidential Panel on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Deputy Speaker: 1996–2004
In May 1996, she became the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, working with Frene Ginwala. She took over from Bhadra Ranchod. After the 1999 general election, she was re-elected as Deputy Speaker on 14 June 1999. She won against the opposition candidate, Dene Smuts, with 326 votes to 47.
First Term as Speaker: 2004–2008
After the 2004 general election, the ANC chose Baleka Mbete to become the new Speaker of the National Assembly, replacing Frene Ginwala. She was elected without opposition on 23 April 2004. Gwen Mahlangu became her deputy.
As Speaker, Mbete worked to make Parliament stronger and more effective. She believed that Parliament should not just agree with everything but should play an active role.
Becoming ANC Chairperson
During her time as Speaker, Mbete was nominated for a leadership position in the ANC. This happened at the party's 52nd National Conference in Polokwane in December 2007. She was first nominated for deputy secretary-general, but then she was nominated for the party chairperson role. Tokyo Sexwale stepped aside to support her, saying it was important to support women in leadership.
On 18 December 2007, Mbete was elected as the ANC national chairperson for a five-year term. She was supported by Jacob Zuma, who became the new party president. She won by a large margin against Joel Netshitenzhe, receiving 61% of the votes.
Deputy President: 2008–2009
On 20 September 2008, the ANC announced that President Thabo Mbeki would resign. He submitted his resignation to Mbete's office the next day.
There was talk that Mbete might become the next President, which would have made her the first female head of state in South Africa. However, the ANC announced that Kgalema Motlanthe, the Deputy President of the ANC, would become President. On 23 September, it was announced that Mbete was the most likely candidate for Deputy President of South Africa, following Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka's resignation.
On 25 September 2008, President Motlanthe officially appointed her as Deputy President.
Break from Parliament: 2009–2014
In the next general election in April 2009, Mbete was re-elected to Parliament. However, she chose not to be sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 6 May, even though she was present. The new President, Jacob Zuma, announced that Kgalema Motlanthe would replace her as Deputy President. The ANC stated that Mbete would focus on her party work full-time at Luthuli House instead of returning to Parliament. Mbete said that her decision not to be sworn in was not because she wanted to remain Deputy President.
She completed her term as ANC national chairperson. She was re-elected for a second term in this role on 18 December 2012, at the ANC's 53rd National Conference. She won against Thandi Modise with 76% of the votes.
Second Term as Speaker: 2014–2019
Baleka Mbete returned to Parliament as an ANC member in the 2014 general election. The party nominated her to return to her previous role as Speaker of the National Assembly. During the first meeting of the assembly on 21 May 2014, she easily won against the opposition candidate, receiving 260 votes compared to 88 votes for Nosimo Balindlela.
Working as Speaker
During her second term as Speaker, some opposition parties expressed concerns about her fairness, especially because she was also the chairperson of the ANC. A debate was held in Parliament on 16 September 2014, and the motion against her was rejected.
ANC Presidential Campaign
Before the ANC's 54th National Conference, which would choose President Zuma's successor, Mbete announced in April 2016 that she wanted to be president. The ANC Women's League supported another candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Mbete was not seen as a top candidate, but she continued her campaign until the conference in December 2017. On the first night of the conference, Mbete supported Cyril Ramaphosa, who was Dlamini-Zuma's main rival.
Mbete did not run for re-election as national chairperson at the conference, but she was re-elected to the National Executive Committee.
After Her Term as Speaker
Before the 2019 general election, Mbete mentioned that she was unsure about her future in politics. After the election in May, she was re-elected to Parliament. However, on 20 May, the ANC announced that Thandi Modise would succeed Mbete as Speaker. The next day, the ANC confirmed that Mbete had removed her name from the party list, meaning she would not return to Parliament.
In March 2022, Mbete stated that she was "done with politics." However, two months later, she was appointed as the temporary leader of the ANC Women's League. She led the league until new leaders were elected. In December 2022, at the ANC's 55th National Conference, she was not re-elected to the National Executive Committee, losing her seat for the first time since 1994.
Personal Life
Baleka Mbete married Keorapetse Kgositsile, a writer and poet, in 1978. They divorced in 1992. She later married Nape Khomo, a businessman, in 2016. She has three sons and two daughters.
See also
In Spanish: Baleka Mbete para niños
