17 Facts About Elizabeth Thabethe

Elizabeth Thabethe was a South African politician and former trade unionist from Gauteng.

Elizabeth Thabethe represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly of South Africa for five terms from May 1994 to May 2019.

Between 2005 and 2019, Elizabeth Thabethe was a deputy minister under four consecutive presidents.

Elizabeth Thabethe retired from the National Assembly in the May 2019 general election.

Elizabeth Thabethe rose to prominence during apartheid as a trade unionist in the Chemical Workers' Industrial Union in present-day Gauteng.

Elizabeth Thabethe joined the union in 1983 at her workplace and rose through its ranks from shop steward to national executive member.

Ahead of South Africa's first democratic elections in April 1994, Elizabeth Thabethe stood as a candidate for the ANC; with Joyce Mabudafhasi and Susan Shabangu, she was one of three women whom COSATU nominated for inclusion on the ANC list.

Elizabeth Thabethe served continuously in the National Assembly for the next 25 years, gaining re-election to five consecutive terms; for the last three terms, from April 2004 onwards, she represented the Gauteng constituency.

Elizabeth Thabethe represented Parliament at the Southern African Development Community, and from 1996 onwards she was an ANC whip.

Elizabeth Thabethe served as committee chairperson for just over a year: on 22 June 2005, reshuffling his second-term cabinet, President Thabo Mbeki announced her appointment as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.

Elizabeth Thabethe held that position for 18 months, until Zuma's first cabinet reshuffle on 31 October 2010.

Elizabeth Thabethe continued in the deputy ministry until the May 2014 general election, in which she was elected to her fifth and final term in the National Assembly.

Elizabeth Thabethe served in that position for the rest of the Fifth Parliament, gaining reappointment under President Cyril Ramaphosa; after he took office in February 2018, Ramaphosa replaced Xasa with Minister Derek Hanekom.

In mid-2018, the Parliamentary Monitoring Group reported that Elizabeth Thabethe was one of five incumbent ministers and deputy ministers who had not attended a single parliamentary committee meeting that year.

Elizabeth Thabethe did not stand for re-election to Parliament in the May 2019 general election.

Elizabeth Thabethe served on Ramaphosa's Presidential Advisory Committee on Investment.

Elizabeth Thabethe was seriously injured in a car accident in Katlehong, Gauteng on 29 January 2021.