Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Mapisa-Nqakula in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th Speaker of the National Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 19 August 2021 – 3 April 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Cyril Ramaphosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Lechesa Tsenoli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Thandi Modise | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Lechesa Tsenoli (acting) Thoko Didiza | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of the African National Congress Women's League | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 29 August 2003 – 6 July 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Mavivi Manzini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Winnie Madikizela-Mandela | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Angie Motshekga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa 13 November 1956 Cape Town, Western Cape Union of South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | African National Congress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Charles Nqakula | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula (born 13 November 1956) is a South African politician who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly from August 2021 until her resignation on 3 April 2024. She was a cabinet minister from 2004 to 2021, including as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans between June 2012 and August 2021. She was an elected member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC) between 2002 and 2022 and is a former president of the ANC Women's League.
Raised in the Eastern Cape, Mapisa-Nqakula trained as a teacher and worked in youth development until 1984, when she left South Africa to join Umkhonto we Sizwe in exile. She returned to the country in 1990 and became a national organiser for the newly relaunched ANC Women's League; she was later its secretary-general from 1993 to 1997 under league president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. She joined the National Assembly as a backbencher in the April 1994 general election and chaired Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence from 1996 to 2001.
Her political rise accelerated during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, with whom she was close. In December 2001, she was appointed as Chief Whip of the Majority Party, and merely six months later she became Deputy Minister of Home Affairs under Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. She served as deputy minister until the April 2004 general election, after which she joined Mbeki's cabinet as minister in the same portfolio. Concurrently, she was the president of the ANC Women's League from August 2003 to July 2008.
After the April 2009 general election, President Jacob Zuma moved her to a new portfolio as Minister of Correctional Services, where she served until she was appointed as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans in June 2012. She was retained in the latter position by Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, and remained in the ministry for almost nine years. During that period, in September 2020, Mapisa-Nqakula was reprimanded by the president for using a South African Air Force jet to transport an ANC delegation to a party-political meeting in Harare. She was sacked from Ramaphosa's cabinet on 5 August 2021 in the aftermath of severe civil unrest, and she was elected as Speaker on 19 August 2021.
After less than three years as Speaker, Mapisa-Nqakula resigned from the National Assembly on 3 April 2024 amid revelations that she was under investigation by the Investigating Directorate. The following day, she was charged with corruption and money laundering, accused of having accepted bribes while serving as Minister of Defence. She has since been released on bail and is awaiting trial.