45 Facts About Naledi Pandor

Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor is a South African politician, educator and academic who served as the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation from 2019 until 2024.

Naledi Pandor served as a Member of Parliament for the African National Congress from 1994 to 2024.

Naledi Pandor soon became Deputy Chief Whip of the ANC caucus in 1995.

Naledi Pandor was elected Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces in 1998 and became chairperson in 1999.

Naledi Pandor initially became a member of the national cabinet in 2004, following President Thabo Mbeki's decision to appoint her as Minister of Education.

Naledi Pandor retained her post in the cabinet of Kgalema Motlanthe.

Naledi Pandor served in the position until her appointment as Minister of Home Affairs in 2012.

Naledi Pandor returned to the post of Minister of Science and Technology in 2014 and held it until 2018, when she became Minister of Higher Education and Training in the first cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Naledi Pandor was instead appointed Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.

Naledi Pandor unsuccessfully stood for re-election to the National Assembly at the 2024 general election.

Grace Naledi Mandisa Matthews was born on 7 December 1953 in Durban, Natal, to Regina Thelma and Joe Matthews, a political and anti-apartheid activist and the son of academic Z K Matthews.

Naledi Pandor received her primary and secondary education in Botswana.

Naledi Pandor then went overseas and fulfilled a Diploma in Education and an MA degree from the University of London between 1978 and 1979.

Naledi Pandor obtained a diploma in higher education, administration and leadership from the Bryn Mawr Summer Programme in 1992, and soon enrolled at Harvard Kennedy School to receive a diploma in leadership in development in 1997.

Naledi Pandor attained an MA degree in linguistics from the University of Stellenbosch in the same year.

Naledi Pandor received her PhD in education at the University of Pretoria in 2019, with a thesis titled "The contested meaning of transformation in higher education in post-apartheid South Africa".

Naledi Pandor became a teacher at the Ernest Bevin School in London in 1980.

Naledi Pandor was employed as a teacher in Gaborone from 1981 to 1984, and as an instructor at the Taung College of Education from 1984 to 1986.

Naledi Pandor worked as a senior lecturer in English at the University of Bophuthatswana from 1986 to 1989, and then as a senior fellow in the Academic Support Programme of the University of Cape Town from 1989 to 1994.

Naledi Pandor was appointed the chairperson of the Western Cape National Executive Committee of the National Education Coordinating Committee in 1991 and served in the position until 1993.

Additionally, Naledi Pandor chaired the ANC Athlone Central branch, while serving as both the head of the Desmond Tutu Education Trust and the Western Cape School Building Trust.

Naledi Pandor was deputy chairperson of the Joint Education Trust Board of Trustees between 1993 and 2001.

Naledi Pandor was chancellor of Cape Technikon from 2002 to 2004.

Naledi Pandor became a Member of the Parliament in the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly, following the 1994 general election.

Naledi Pandor served as Deputy Chairperson until her appointment as Chairperson following the 1999 general election.

Naledi Pandor succeeded inaugural Chairperson Mosioua Lekota when she assumed the office on 21 June 1999.

Naledi Pandor was the first woman to hold the role.

Naledi Pandor returned to the National Assembly following the 2004 general election.

Naledi Pandor initiated reforms to the country's failed implementation of the outcomes-based education system.

Naledi Pandor took office on 26 May 2014 and succeeded Derek Hanekom.

Naledi Pandor was appointed Minister of Higher Education and Training and took office on 27 February 2018, succeeding Hlengiwe Mkhize.

Naledi Pandor was speculated to be appointed Deputy President of South Africa.

Naledi Pandor was Ramaphosa's original choice for Deputy President back in 2017 at the ANC's elective conference.

Naledi Pandor was instead appointed Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and assumed office on 30 May 2019.

Naledi Pandor later backtracked on her position, toeing the party line instead.

On 10 March 2022, Naledi Pandor said that she supported the idea of a single African currency to increase intra-continental trade.

In September 2022, Naledi Pandor stood in for Ramaphosa at the Seventy-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly after he had decided to return to South Africa due to the ongoing electricity crisis after his working visit in Washington, DC In her address to the assembly, Naledi Pandor said that all ongoing wars and conflicts around the world should be given equal attention.

Naledi Pandor was one of a number of sitting cabinet ministers who unsuccessfully sought re-election to the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress at the party's 55th National Conference in December 2022.

In May 2023, Naledi Pandor announced that she had approved diplomatic immunity for Vladimir Putin and his officials so that they could attend the 15th BRICS Summit despite the ICC arrest warrant.

Naledi Pandor is known, in part, for her strong anti-Israel stance.

On 12 November 2023, Naledi Pandor called on the ICJ to speed up its investigation of Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip and that she expects the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Naledi Pandor lost her seat in Parliament at the 2024 general election, having been ranked 86th on the ANC's national parliamentary list and the ANC only winning 73 national list seats.

Naledi Pandor is married to Sharif Joseph Naledi Pandor, whom she met while studying in Botswana, and they have four children together.

Naledi Pandor converted to Islam after she met her husband.

Naledi Pandor's in-laws gave her the Islamic name of Nadia.