Elizabeth Thabethe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Thabethe in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Minister of Tourism | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 31 March 2017 – 7 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Jacob Zuma Cyril Ramaphosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister | Tokozile Xasa Derek Hanekom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mandisi Mpahlwa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Fish Mahlalela | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the National Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 9 May 1994 – 7 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Gauteng (2004–2019) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 26 September 1959 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 March 2021 (aged 61) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Heroes' Acre, Pretoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | South African | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elizabeth Thabethe (26 September 1959 – 26 March 2021) was a South African politician and former trade unionist from Gauteng. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly of South Africa for five terms from May 1994 to May 2019. Between 2005 and 2019, she served as a deputy minister in the national governments of four successive presidents. After leaving the National Assembly, she was special investment envoy to President Cyril Ramaphosa until her death in March 2021.
Thabethe rose to prominence in the leadership of the Chemical Workers' Industrial Union, and she was elected to Parliament in the 1994 general election as a delegate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. In the National Assembly, she served as an ANC whip from 1996 to 2004 and then as the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs from 2004 to 2005.
Between 2005 and 2019, Thabethe was a deputy minister under four consecutive presidents. President Thabo Mbeki appointed her to the government as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry in June 2005, and she held that position until May 2009 under Mbeki and his successor, President Kgalema Motlanthe. After a hiatus as chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Energy, she returned as President Jacob Zuma's Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry from November 2010 to May 2014.
Thereafter she was the first Deputy Minister of Small Business Development from May 2014 to March 2017 under President Zuma, and the Deputy Minister of Tourism from March 2017 to May 2019 under Presidents Zuma and Ramaphosa. She retired from the National Assembly in the May 2019 general election.