17 Facts About Maite Nkoana-Mashabane

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform from 2018 to 2019, and previously served as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation from 2009 to 2018.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was born in Magoebaskloof and raised in Ga-Makanye, Limpopo.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane went on to be appointed as South African High Commissioner to India and Malaysia.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane served as the Chairperson of the ANCWL in Limpopo and as a member of the National Working Committee of the organisation from 1992 to 1995.

On her return to South Africa, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane became Limpopo's Local Government and Housing Member of the Executive Council.

In December 2012, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was re-elected as a member of the National Executive Committee of the ruling party at the party's 53rd National Conference, held in Mangaung, Free State Province.

Zuma subsequently disputed suggestions that this was an unusual appointment in light of Maite Nkoana-Mashabane's apparent lack of foreign policy experience, saying that "the ANC knows the strengths of this comrade" and noting that she was a member of the ANC National Executive Committee.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was President of the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Durban from 28 November to 11 December 2011.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was sworn in for a second term as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation on 26 May 2014.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane is currently a member of the ANC NEC and NWC.

In 2015, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was elected as the Treasurer General of the ANCWL.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane rose to infamy after an interview on Al-Jazeera where she responded to questions about the state of South Africa by detailing the manner in which she had, in her childhood, carried water pails on her head and subsequently has a hole in her head.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane unsuccessfully stood for re-election to the ANC NEC at the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was removed as a cabinet minister in a cabinet reshuffle on 6 March 2023.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was later found guilty on those charges in the Pretoria High Court, and quit his post as political adviser.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane died in a car accident outside the provincial capital of Polokwane in 2007.

At the Oslo Airport, refusing to have her bag searched and missing her commercial flight, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane insisted on chartering a private jet.