Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi

Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi (1 February 1962 – 6 September 2021) was a South African politician who was the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. She was also President of the National Freedom Party (NFP). Prior to being elected to Parliament, she served for nineteen years as a councillor, fifteen of those years as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality. She was formerly chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the IFP's candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal in the 2009 general election.

On 7 May 2014, her new party successfully contested the 2014 South African general elections by receiving 288,742 (1.57%) of the national votes. This outcome placed the NFP in fifth place, winning 6 seats in the National Assembly.

Early life and education

Born in rural Makhosini, Magwaza-Msibi was a former school principal who held a BA degree from the University of Zululand and diplomas (in further education) from the then-University of Natal and (in local government) from the then-University of Durban-Westville.

Career

Having joined the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) as a teenager in 1975, Magwaza-Msibi grew up within the IFP. She first served as branch chairperson in 1976. Thereafter, she joined the executive committee of the Youth and the Women's Brigade 13 years later (1988). This was followed by the deputy chairperson's position of the Youth Brigade (1998-2003) and later she became the national secretary of the Women's Brigade.

Prior to this, she had occupied several senior administrative positions in the local and town councils, and played a leading role in numerous community projects. In 1995, she was the only woman on the executive board of the Nongoma Transitional Local Council. The following year (1996) she became chairperson of the Emakhosini sub-region, which comprised Ulundi and Babanango.

She was appointed the first mayor of the Zululand District Municipality in 2000 after the first local government elections in the new dispensation.

In 2005, she unsuccessfully contested the position of IFP Deputy National Chairperson, losing to Stanley Dladla. However, when the National Chairperson, Ziba Jiyane, left the party to form the National Democratic Convention, Magwaza-Msibi was put forward as a candidate and elected unopposed at the 2006 national conference. As second-in-command in the IFP, she was touted as a potential successor to party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi when he decided to step down. Magwaza-Msibi eventually left the Inkatha Freedom Party and announced the formation of the National Freedom Party on 25 January 2011 in Durban, saying she accepted her expulsion from the IFP after "more than two years of marginalisation and ostracism". IFP leader Buthelezi, in response, described Magwaza-Msibi's actions as establishing a party based on "disgruntlement and ambition" rather than ideologies or values and that he "struggled to understand how she could inflict such damage on a party she professed to love."

The first election contested by the National Freedom Party was the 2011 local government election, a few months after the party's foundation. The NFP achieved success in KwaZulu-Natal and Magwaza-Msibi became Mayor of Zululand District Municipality following a coalition deal between the NFP and the ANC to co-govern 19 hung municipalities in the province.

Following the National Freedom Party's success in the 2014 general election, Magwaza-Msibi decided to resign as Mayor of Zululand District Municipality in order to lead the NFP in Parliament. The party's support was greatly diminished in the May 2019 elections. Magwaza-Msibi was not reappointed to the national cabinet and resigned from Parliament in June 2019, citing her intention to rebuild the party.

Personal life and death She was the mother of actress Gugu Gumede. She was reported to have suffered a stroke on 16 November 2014 and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

She was married to Mandla Msibi who was the first black editor for television news under the SABC. Magwaza-Msibi died from COVID-19-related cardiac arrest at a hospital in Durban, South Africa on 6 September 2021, at the age of 59.