Veteran MP Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to retire from parliament

Minister in the Presidency responsible for women, youth and people with disabilities Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has told the ANC she will retire from parliament during its next term.

TimesLIVE has seen a letter Dlamini-Zuma sent to ANC electoral committee head Kgalema Motlanthe on Friday informing the party of her decision.

In the letter, Dlamini-Zuma tells Motlanthe there is no need to schedule an interview with her as part of the public representative list process ahead of the elections this year, as she will not be available.

Dlamini-Zuma was nominated by ANC branches to return to parliament on the national list, but the 74-year-old has turned them down.

“It will not be necessary to schedule the interview for the 2024 national list because I have taken a decision to retire from being a member of the South African parliament,” Dlamini-Zuma wrote.

The letter, dated January 12 and directed to Motlanthe, copying in the party's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and provincial secretaries, comes on the eve of the ANC's 112th birthday celebrations — known as the January 8 statement — taking place in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.

She said she appreciated the “confidence” the ANC branches had shown in her by nominating her for parliament.

Dlamini-Zuma is one of the longest-serving ANC MPs. She has been a member of the National Assembly since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

She has also been in cabinet since 1994, having served under all five presidents since Nelson Mandela's tenure.

“My sincere gratitude to the entire leadership of the ANC from national, provincial, regional and branch levels for affording me the opportunity and support to serve the country and the people of SA as a public representative and as a member of cabinet since 1994,” she wrote.

This means, should the ANC retain power after the elections, she will cease to be a member of the cabinet in the new administration, as ministers are appointed from MPs.

Her letter comes as the ANC was said to have been considering hauling her over the coals and dragging her before the party's national disciplinary committee (NDC) on several counts of repeatedly defying the party line in parliament.

Dlamini-Zuma was expected to explain to the NDC why she voted in December last year for the adoption of the section 89 report recommending an impeachment process for President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal, when the party had instructed its MPs to vote against it.

She was also expected to be charged as a repeat offender because last year she again defied the party in a vote on the creation of an ad hoc committee to look into the Phala Phala saga.

More charges were expected to be brought against Dlamini-Zuma after she failed to appear in the National Assembly for the vote to impeach former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

TimesLIVE