Lindiwe Mazibuko facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lindiwe Mazibuko
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Mazibuko in March 2011
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| 18th Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 27 October 2011 – 6 May 2014 |
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| Leader | Helen Zille |
| Preceded by | Athol Trollip |
| Succeeded by | Mmusi Maimane |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| Assembly Member for KwaZulu-Natal |
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| In office 6 May 2009 – 21 May 2014 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lindiwe Desire Mazibuko
9 April 1980 Manzini, Swaziland |
| Nationality | South African |
| Political party | Democratic Alliance |
| Education | St. Mary's Diocesan School for Girls, Kloof |
| Alma mater | University of KwaZulu-Natal University of Cape Town Harvard Kennedy School |
Lindiwe Desire Mazibuko (born 9 April 1980) is a South African writer, activist, and former politician. From 2011 to 2014, she was the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament. This made her the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2009 until she resigned in May 2014.
Before becoming a Member of Parliament, Mazibuko worked for the DA. She joined the National Assembly after the May 2009 general election. She represented the DA in the KwaZulu-Natal area. From 2009 to 2011, she was the national spokesperson for the DA. She also served in the party's "shadow cabinet." This meant she acted as a spokesperson for different government departments.
On 27 October 2011, Mazibuko was chosen as the DA's parliamentary leader. This made her the Leader of the Opposition. She held this important role for two and a half years. She worked closely with the DA's federal leader, Helen Zille. Their relationship became difficult in 2013. This happened after they disagreed on a policy called black economic empowerment (BEE). As opposition leader, Mazibuko also took the Speaker of the National Assembly to court. She challenged the rules for motions of no confidence in Parliament.
After the May 2014 general election, Mazibuko left Parliament. She said she was taking a break from politics to study further. Later, she started Futurelect. This is a non-profit group that teaches young people about civic education and leadership in public service.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Lindiwe Mazibuko was born on 9 April 1980 in Swaziland. Her family was of mixed race. When she was six, she moved to KwaZulu-Natal with her parents. Her father was a banker, and her mother was a nurse.
Mazibuko grew up in Durban. She finished high school at St Mary’s DSG in Kloof in 1997. She first studied music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Then she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cape Town in 2006. She also got an Honours degree in Political Communication in 2007.
Mazibuko became interested in politics while writing her Honours paper. She researched Helen Zille, who had just become the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Mazibuko studied Zille's work as Mayor of Cape Town and DA Leader. She also looked into the DA's policies. She found that their ideas matched her own vision for South Africa.
In May 2015, she earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. She was also a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics in late 2015.
Starting Her Political Journey
In 2007, Mazibuko wrote her Honours paper about the Democratic Alliance (DA). She was curious about Helen Zille becoming the new DA leader. During her research, Mazibuko started to like Zille and the DA's policies. She realised the DA "wasn't this big monster" people thought it was. She especially liked the DA's focus on helping poor people.
Mazibuko later said that she and her family were surprised by her support for the DA. She felt that many black South Africans were expected to support the African National Congress (ANC). However, Mazibuko felt she could no longer support the ANC under President Thabo Mbeki. She also believed that the DA needed more black members to truly represent all South Africans.
After finishing her studies, Mazibuko saw a job ad in the Sunday Times. She applied and was hired as a researcher for the DA in Parliament. Less than a year later, in 2008, she became the party's national media spokesperson. She then decided to run as a parliamentary candidate for the DA in the April 2009 general election. Helen Zille called her a "star performer." Mazibuko was placed high on the DA's list for the KwaZulu-Natal area.
Role in the Shadow Cabinet
After the April 2009 election, Mazibuko became a Member of the National Assembly. This is the lower house of the South African Parliament. She was given a DA office in North Durban. In the DA's "shadow cabinet," she was appointed as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Communications. She also became the DA's new national spokesperson. The shadow cabinet is a group of opposition MPs who "shadow" government ministers. They prepare to take over if their party wins an election.
Within weeks of the election, people started calling Mazibuko a "rising star" in the DA. She was seen as a possible future leader of the party. The Mail & Guardian newspaper named her one of its 200 Young South Africans of 2009. People noted her strong public speaking skills and ability to handle the media.
In September 2010, the shadow cabinet was changed. Mazibuko remained the national spokesperson. She was also promoted to Shadow Minister of Rural Development, Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation. In the following year, Mazibuko played a big role in the DA's 2011 local elections campaign. She even appeared on the party's election posters with senior DA leaders, Helen Zille and Patricia de Lille.
Leading the Opposition
Becoming Leader
The Campaign
Before a special election within the DA's parliamentary group, Mazibuko announced she would run for leader. She wanted to challenge Athol Trollip, who was the current DA parliamentary leader. She made her announcement in Cape Town on 27 September 2011. She was joined by Wilmot James and Watty Watson, who would run for other leadership roles. Mazibuko said they represented a mix of experience and a fresh vision for the future.
Mazibuko was praised for choosing experienced running mates. Her campaign was also very public, which was unusual. She later said she wanted to encourage more democratic leadership choices in the DA.
She explained that her differences with Trollip were about how things should be done, not about core beliefs. Her main campaign message was that the DA needed younger, more energetic, and more diverse leaders.
Support for Her Candidacy
Many DA politicians publicly supported Mazibuko. These included Patricia de Lille, the Mayor of Cape Town. There were also rumours that the DA's federal chairperson, James Selfe, quietly supported her. Some people believed that Helen Zille also supported Mazibuko. They thought Zille had helped Mazibuko rise quickly in the party. Zille later admitted she encouraged people to vote for Lindiwe.
The election was held on 27 October 2011. Mazibuko won easily. The exact number of votes was not made public. However, reports said Mazibuko won by about 50 votes to Trollip's 31. She kept Trollip's shadow cabinet until February 2012, when she made some changes.
Challenging the Government
As Leader of the Opposition, Mazibuko often challenged President Jacob Zuma and his government. In November 2012, Mazibuko announced that the DA and other opposition parties would propose a motion of no confidence in Zuma and his cabinet. A motion of no confidence is a formal way for Parliament to show it no longer supports the government.
The main reason for this motion was the Nkandlagate scandal. This involved public money being used for upgrades to President Zuma's private home. Other reasons included the Marikana massacre, where striking miners were killed, and concerns about corruption. However, the vote on the motion did not happen. Parliament's committee could not agree on allowing a debate.
Mazibuko and other opposition parties took the case to the Western Cape High Court. They wanted to force the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, to allow the debate. The case eventually went to the Constitutional Court of South Africa. In 2013, the court ruled that Parliament's rules for motions of no confidence were against the Constitution. New rules were passed in February 2014. By then, Mazibuko had decided to pursue a different approach to hold Zuma accountable.
Her Public Image
Mazibuko was the first black parliamentary leader for the DA. She was also South Africa's first black Leader of the Opposition. Her election gained international attention. She was recognised as a "Rising Talent" and a "Young Global Leader" by international groups. However, in South Africa, other politicians often criticised her.
Her racial identity was sometimes used to criticise her. Some suggested that her background meant she wasn't truly representative of black South Africans. She also faced comments about her age and gender. For example, some politicians made remarks about her appearance during debates. In May 2011, Julius Malema famously refused to debate her, calling her Helen Zille's "tea girl." This nickname was often used during her time as Leader of the Opposition. By 2014, Mazibuko said she had experienced "sexism of every different kind" in politics. She saw these attacks as a sign that she was a political threat.
Some people also worried about Mazibuko's lack of experience. Helen Zille later said that Mazibuko's rise had been too quick. Zille felt Mazibuko was talented but needed more experience.
Working with Helen Zille
Mazibuko had started her political career as Helen Zille's protégé. However, they had a public disagreement in November 2013. This happened after the DA parliamentary group, led by Mazibuko, voted for two black economic empowerment (BEE) bills. BEE is a policy aimed at helping black South Africans participate more in the economy. Zille publicly disagreed with the vote. She said the bills contained race-based policies that went against the DA's principles. Zille said the vote was a "plane crash" and that Mazibuko "got it completely wrong."
Mazibuko, however, told the press that she still supported the legislation and race-based affirmative action. She believed they fit with the DA's ideas of individual freedom and social responsibility. Zille later said that Mazibuko told her to stay out of the parliamentary group's affairs.
This disagreement strained their relationship. By early 2014, there were reports that Zille and her supporters were starting to favour Mmusi Maimane over Mazibuko. Mazibuko later said that Zille had not supported her and had tried to "stifle" her political potential.
Stepping Down
In the May 2014 general election, Mazibuko ran for re-election to Parliament. She was high on the DA's candidate lists. She had been briefly absent from the campaign in March 2014 due to surgery but returned in April. On 10 May 2014, the election results showed that the DA had done well. This meant Mazibuko could continue as Leader of the Opposition.
However, the next day, the Sunday Times published an interview with Mazibuko. She announced that she would not return to her seat in the new Parliament. She said she was taking a break from politics to get a master's degree at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. She explained that she felt this break would help her "serve the DA and South Africa better" when she returned.
Mazibuko's resignation, after only one term in Parliament, caused public discussion. Some people wondered about the challenges black leaders faced in the DA. Mazibuko said she would remain a DA member. She denied that internal party politics influenced her decision. However, some observers linked her departure to the difficult relationship with Zille and their disagreement over BEE.
Others suggested that Mazibuko's popularity within the DA was declining. Zille reportedly said that Mazibuko was pursuing her "Plan B" (Harvard) because she knew she might lose her leadership position anyway.
After Politics
Working for Society
In May 2015, Mazibuko earned a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics in late 2015. In 2016, she was a fellow at Stellenbosch University's Institute for Advanced Studies. She then moved to London, England, and joined the board of the Apolitical Group in 2017.
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In 2018, Mazibuko co-founded the Apolitical Academy. This group aimed to train future public servants. In June 2018, she announced the first group of 25 Public Service Fellows. She ran the pilot program from Johannesburg. Later, the Apolitical Academy became Futurelect. This non-profit group focuses on teaching ethical leadership and skills for public service in Africa. Mazibuko became its chief executive officer.
In September 2023, before the May 2024 South African general election, she launched Futurelect's new civic education program. She said it aimed to encourage over a million young South Africans to vote. As part of this, in March 2024, the Futurelect Civic Education App was launched. This app helps educate young voters.
Mazibuko also returned to Harvard in 2019 as a fellow. In 2023, she joined the first group of Keseb Democracy Fellows. She also writes a weekly column for the South African Sunday Times newspaper.
Her Views on Politics
After Mazibuko arrived at Harvard in 2014, there were reports that some DA politicians wanted her to challenge Zille for the party leadership. This speculation grew in April 2015 when Zille announced she would not seek re-election. At that time, Mazibuko said she would not run for leader. She stated she would return to politics "when the time is right." Mmusi Maimane, who had replaced Mazibuko as the party's parliamentary leader, later became the federal leader.
In later years, Mazibuko remained unsure about returning to active politics. In 2018, she said she was "waiting for the right time." She preferred to change things from outside party politics. She also became more critical of her former party, the DA. In 2016, she noted that many of the DA's main thinkers were white men. By 2018, she said she was no longer a formal member of the DA, though she still supported them.
After Maimane resigned from the party leadership in 2019, she warned that his departure showed problems within the party's internal democracy. She suggested that the DA was "captured by a certain faction."
Personal Life
Lindiwe Mazibuko speaks Zulu and Swati, as well as English.
Images for kids
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Mazibuko in March 2011
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Mazibuko briefing the press as DA national spokesperson, February 2011
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The DA's 2011 election poster, which helped Mazibuko become more well-known
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Mazibuko speaking at a DA rally in May 2011
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Mazibuko, Patricia de Lille, and Helen Zille putting up campaign posters in Cape Town, March 2011
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Mazibuko in July 2009
