Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
Mapisa-Nqakula in 2012
7th Speaker of the National Assembly
In office 19 August 2021 – 3 April 2024
President	Cyril Ramaphosa
Deputy	Lechesa Tsenoli
Preceded by	Thandi Modise
Succeeded by	TBA
President of the African National Congress Women's League
In office 29 August 2003 – 6 July 2008
Deputy	Mavivi Manzini
Preceded by	Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Succeeded by	Angie Motshekga
Other offices 2001–2021 Member of the National Assembly of South Africa In office 9 May 1994 – 3 April 2024 Minister of Defence and Military Veterans In office 12 June 2012 – 5 August 2021 President Jacob Zuma Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy Thabang Makwetla Kebby Maphatsoe Preceded by Lindiwe Sisulu Succeeded by Thandi Modise Minister of Correctional Services In office 11 May 2009 – 12 June 2012 President Jacob Zuma Deputy Hlengiwe Mkhize Ngoako Ramatlhodi Preceded by Ngconde Balfour Succeeded by S'bu Ndebele Minister of Home Affairs In office 29 April 2004 – 10 May 2009 President Thabo Mbeki Kgalema Motlanthe Deputy Malusi Gigaba Preceded by Mangosuthu Buthelezi Succeeded by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Deputy Minister of Home Affairs In office 6 May 2002 – 28 April 2004 President Thabo Mbeki Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi Preceded by Charles Nqakula Succeeded by Malusi Gigaba Chief Whip of the Majority Party In office December 2001 – May 2002 President Thabo Mbeki Preceded by Tony Yengeni Succeeded by Nathi Nhleko
Personal details
Born	Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa (1956-11-13) 13 November 1956 (age 67) Cape Town, Western Cape Union of South Africa
Political party	African National Congress
Spouse	Charles Nqakula

Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula (born 13 November 1956) is a South African politician who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly from August 2021 until her resignation on 3 April 2024. She was a cabinet minister from 2004 to 2021, including as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans between June 2012 and August 2021. She was an elected member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC) between 2002 and 2022 and is a former president of the ANC Women's League.

Raised in the Eastern Cape, Mapisa-Nqakula trained as a teacher and worked in youth development until 1984, when she left South Africa to join Umkhonto we Sizwe in exile. She returned to the country in 1990 and became a national organiser for the newly relaunched ANC Women's League; she was later its secretary-general from 1993 to 1997 under league president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. She joined the National Assembly as a backbencher in the April 1994 general election and chaired Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence from 1996 to 2001.

Her political rise accelerated during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, with whom she was close; in December 2001, she was appointed as Chief Whip of the Majority Party, and merely six months later she became Deputy Minister of Home Affairs under Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. She served as deputy minister until the April 2004 general election, after which she joined Mbeki's cabinet as minister in the same portfolio. Concurrently, she was the president of the ANC Women's League from August 2003 to July 2008.

After the April 2009 general election, President Jacob Zuma moved her to a new portfolio as Minister of Correctional Services, where she served until she was appointed as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans in June 2012. She was retained in the latter position by Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, and remained in the ministry for almost nine years. During that period, in September 2020, Mapisa-Nqakula was reprimanded by the president for using a South African Air Force jet to transport an ANC delegation to a party-political meeting in Harare. She was sacked from Ramaphosa's cabinet on 5 August 2021 in the aftermath of severe civil unrest, and she was elected as speaker on 19 August 2021.