Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi | |
|---|---|
 Fraser-Moleketi in March 2013 | |
| Minister of Public Service and Administration | |
| In office 17 June 1999 – 25 September 2008 | |
| President | Thabo Mbeki |
| Preceded by | Zola Skweyiya |
| Succeeded by | Richard Baloyi |
| Minister of Welfare and Population Development | |
| In office 1 July 1996 – 16 June 1999 | |
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| Preceded by | Patrick McKenzie |
| Succeeded by | Zola Skweyiya |
| Deputy Minister of Welfare and Population Development | |
| In office February 1995 – 30 June 1996 | |
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| Minister | Abe Williams Patrick McKenzie |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 9 May 1994 – 25 September 2008 | |
| Deputy Chairperson of the South African Communist Party | |
| In office 2 July 1998 – 26 July 2002 | |
| General Secretary | Blade Nzimande |
| Chairperson | Charles Nqakula |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Dipuo Mvelase |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Geraldine Joslyn Fraser 24 August 1960 Lansdowne, Cape Town Cape Province, Union of South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Other political affiliations | South African Communist Party |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Arthur Fraser (brother) |
| Education | Livingstone High School |
| Alma mater | University of Pretoria |
Geraldine Joslyn Fraser-Moleketi (née Fraser; born 24 August 1960) is a South African politician who was the Minister of Public Service and Administration from June 1999 to September 2008. Before that, from July 1996 to June 1999, she was Minister of Welfare and Population Development. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2008 and is a former deputy chairperson of the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Born in Cape Town, Fraser-Moleketi joined the exiled anti-apartheid movement in the Frontline States in 1980, becoming a member of the ANC and SACP. She returned to South Africa during the negotiations to end apartheid in July 1990, ahead of the SACP's internal relaunch, and worked at the party's headquarters until the April 1994 general election, when she was elected to represent the ANC in the first post-apartheid Parliament. After less than a year as a backbencher, she was appointed to the Government of National Unity as Deputy Minister of Welfare and Population Development in February 1995; in July 1996, President Nelson Mandela promoted her to minister in the same portfolio.
After the 1999 general election, newly elected President Thabo Mbeki appointed her as Minister of Public Service and Administration, where she served for the duration of Mbeki's presidency. She was best known for taking a hard-line stance during public sector wage negotiations, leading to deteriorating labour relations and public sector strikes in 1999, 2004, and 2007. For this, she became a bête noire of the left wing of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and SACP, the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partners, though she was herself a member of the SACP Central Committee between 1990 and 2002, including as deputy chairperson of the party from 1998 to 2002. She was also a member of the ANC National Executive Committee between 1997 and 2007.
On 25 September 2008, Fraser-Moleketi resigned from the cabinet and from the National Assembly in response to Mbeki's resignation from the Presidency. After leaving legislative politics, she was director for democratic governance at the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2013 and then vice-president and special envoy on gender at the African Development Bank from 2013 to 2016. She served multiple terms on the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration, and she has been the chancellor of the Nelson Mandela University since April 2018.