African National Congress (ANC) Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that former Ministers of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa, Women, Children and People with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu have resigned as Members of Parliament.
This follows their sacking by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he announced changes to his National Executive last week.Sisulu, Mthethwa and Nkoana-Mashabane failed to make the cut in the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) at last December’s national conference.
Mthethwa also served as police minister from 2008 to 2014 and as minister of arts and culture from 2014 to 2019.
Mthethwa was police minister at the time of the August 2012 Marikana massacre, in which highly trained tactical police units gunned down 34 protesting mining workers in North West.
Sisulu is the longest-serving member of Parliament. She is to receive at least R4m in loss of employment benefits paid to ministers and MPs on exit from office. She has been in the executive since 1996 under former president Nelson Mandela and was reappointed by successors Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Ramaphosa.She served under all presidents since 1994 and led several portfolios, including human settlements and international relations.
Sisulu was removed and replaced by Patricia de Lille.
Nkoana-Mashabane has held several ministerial positions, including international relations and rural development and land reform.
Mthethwa also held several ministerial positions, including being the minister of police. She was an MP between 1994 and 1995 and was later deployed to diplomatic missions in India, Malaysia and the Maldives.
Dikeledi Magadzi, who was removed from her position as deputy minister of water and sanitation, also resigned. She previously served as the deputy minister of transport.Magadzi is also a former public works, agriculture and safety and security MEC in Limpopo.
She was the MEC for education in the province at the time when little Michael Komape fell and died in a pit latrine. In a TV interview, Magadzi refused to take accountability for the incident. She served in the Limpopo executive between 1994 and 2010.
Newly appointed ministers include Sihle Zikalala, Maropene Ramagopa and Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
