Bathabile Dlamini | |
|---|---|
 Dlamini (second from left) meets Manmohan Singh | |
| 6th President of the African National Congress Women's League | |
| In office 7 August 2015 – April 2022 | |
| Deputy | Sisi Ntombela |
| Preceded by | Angie Motshekga |
| Succeeded by | Sisisi Tolashe |
| Minister in the Presidency for Women | |
| In office 27 February 2018 – 29 May 2019 | |
| President | Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Preceded by | Susan Shabangu |
| Succeeded by | Maite Nkoana-Mashabane |
| Minister of Social Development | |
| In office 1 November 2010 – 27 February 2018 | |
| President | Jacob Zuma Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Preceded by | Edna Molewa |
| Succeeded by | Susan Shabangu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Bathabile Olive Dlamini 10 September 1962 Nquthu, Natal South Africa |
| Citizenship | South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Alma mater | University of Zululand |
Bathabile Dlamini (born 10 September 1962) is a South African politician who was the President of the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League from 2015 to 2022. She was previously the Minister in the Presidency for Women from 2018 to 2019 and the Minister of Social Development from 2010 to 2018.
A social worker by training, Dlamini rose to national political prominence in the ANC Women's League, where she was Secretary General from 1998 to 2008. She was also a Member of Parliament between 1994 and 2004. In 2006, she was convicted of having defrauded Parliament in the Travelgate scandal. She was first elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in 2007 and became an outspoken supporter of former President Jacob Zuma, who appointed her to his cabinet. Although she served briefly as Minister for Women under Zuma's successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, she was removed from the cabinet after the May 2019 general election and resigned from the National Assembly the following month.
As Social Development Minister, Dlamini was a central figure in the 2017 social grants crisis which nearly disabled the South African Social Security Agency and social welfare system. The Constitutional Court and an official inquiry into her conduct both concluded that her personal negligence had contributed to the crisis. In April 2022, she was additionally convicted of perjury for having lied under oath during the inquiry. In the same month, she was removed as President of the ANC Women's League when the ANC disbanded the league's leadership corps on the grounds that it had exceeded its five-year term. Her perjury conviction also disqualified her from standing for election to a fourth five-year term on the ANC National Executive Committee.