Thembi Simelane joined the national government in August 2021, when President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed her as Deputy Minister Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
14 Facts About Thembi Simelane
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Thembi Simelane was reshuffled to Minister of Human Settlements in December 2024.
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Thembi Simelane attended the University of the North, where she was mentored by Joyce Mashamba.
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Thembi Simelane completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1994, a diploma in higher education in 1995, and Honours in 1997.
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In 1997, Thembi Simelane began her career in post-apartheid public administration, and over the next decade she held positions in four different government departments, notably as director of communications in the Office of the Limpopo Premier from 2002 to 2006.
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Thembi Simelane was re-elected to the mayoralty after the August 2016 local elections, defeating an opposition challenge by Frank Haas of the Democratic Alliance.
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Thembi Simelane twice stood unsuccessfully for election as regional chairperson of the ANC's Peter Mokaba branch in Capricorn District, losing to Motalane Monakedi in October 2014 and to John Mpe in July 2018.
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Thembi Simelane received 1,681 votes across the 4,029 ballots cast, making her the 15th-most popular member of the 80-member committee.
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Thembi Simelane was elected to the party's National Working Committee, appointed as the chairperson of the NEC's subcommittee on legislature and governance, and appointed to an NEC task team that was mandated with developing the party's approach to coalition government.
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Thembi Simelane introduced the Intergovernmental Monitoring, Support, and Interventions Bill, 2023, which included measures for national government intervention in dysfunctional municipalities, and introduced regulations for institutionalising the District Development Model.
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On 7 October 2024, Thembi Simelane said that she had told President Ramaphosa about the loan that she received from Gundo Wealth Solutions before he appointed her into his cabinet.
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Thembi Simelane has four children and raised her brother's son.
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Thembi Simelane's elder sister, Nokuthula Simelane, was an anti-apartheid activist and Umkhonto we Sizwe operative who went missing during Nkadimeng's childhood in 1983, aged 23.
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In 2016, the National Prosecuting Authority announced that it would prosecute four men linked to Thembi Simelane's kidnapping, and her family filed an application for presumption of death in 2018.