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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 PRETORIA 001007 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM ASEC SF PGOV
SUBJECT: PART 2 OF 3:  A LOOK AT JACOB ZUMA'S CABINET 
 
REF: A. PRETORIA 000942 
     ¶B. PRETORIA 000988 
 
PRETORIA 00001007  001.2 OF 005 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU)  President Jacob Zuma finalized his Cabinet 
appointments on May 10, modifying several existing ministries 
and creating a few new ones.  Below are short biographies for 
each of the newly appointed ministers and deputies.  This is 
the second of three cables looking at each of the Cabinet 
appointees.  End Summary. 
 
------------------ 
Cabinet Appointees 
------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande is largely 
seen as an opportunist from the South African Communist Party 
(SACP) who had fallen out of favor during the President Thabo 
Mbeki administration.  He was a key figure in Zuma's rise as 
African National Congress (ANC) leader at the ruling party's 
congress in December 2007 because he saw the former Deputy 
President as an ally who could propel him to power.  Nzimande 
also was a vocal critic of former President Kgalema 
Motlanthe, whom he called "a member of the old crowd."  He 
serves as the General Secretary of the SACP, a position he 
has held since 1998.  He only joined the SACP in 1989, 
however, years after he began his activist career.  He also 
serves on both the ANC's National Executive Committee and the 
ANC's National Working Committee.  Nzimande is steeped in the 
Black Consciousness Movement, having started his university 
career in 1976.  He enrolled and graduated from the 
University of Zululand in the late 1970s before joining the 
Azanian People's Organization -- which eventually broke from 
the Black Consciousness Movement.  After finishing a Masters 
degree in 1980, Nzimande moved to Durban where he met, and 
became friends with, Jay Naidoo.  His friendship with Naidoo 
led him to become increasingly involved in trade union 
politics.  Nzimande began teaching at the University of Natal 
in the mid-1980s and held clandestine Marxist study working 
groups during his time as a lecturer.  He was born in 1958. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has 
one of the toughest positions in the Cabinet because the Home 
Affairs ministry is notoriously mismanaged and poorly run. 
She is widely expected to clean up the department's 
practices.  Dlamini-Zuma served as Foreign Affairs minister 
from 1999 to 2009.  Prior to appointment as a senior 
diplomat, Dlamini-Zuma served as Minister of Health from 1994 
to 1999.  She was asked to serve as Deputy President 
following Mbeki's decision to fire Zuma in 2005, but she 
declined after talking with her family.  Ahead of the ruling 
party's congress in 2007, it was rumored that she would be a 
candidate for the presidency.  However, she said publicly 
that she "had not entered the succession debate in the ANC." 
Viewed as a compromise candidate, Dlamini-Zuma was nominated 
for the position of ANC Deputy President by four provinces 
aligned to Mbeki and five provinces aligned to Zuma during 
the ANC's congress in 2007.  She serves as a member of the 
ANC's National Executive Committee.  Dlamini-Zuma became 
active in the ANC in the 1970s, serving as an underground 
member of the party and in the South African Students 
Organization -- where she served as deputy president in 1976. 
 She fled into exile following the Soweto students' uprising 
and completed a degree in medical studies from the University 
Qand completed a degree in medical studies from the University 
of Bristol.  She was working as a doctor in Swaziland when 
she met her future husband, Jacob Zuma.  (Note:  The couple 
divorced in 1998).  In 1985, she returned to the United 
Kingdom and worked for the ANC Regional Health Committee. 
She was born in 1949. 
 
¶4. (U)  Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has held 
the position since 2004.  He previously was elected ANC Youth 
League President in 1996, 1998, and 2001.  Gigaba served in 
Parliament from 1999 to 2001 and rose through youth 
organizations during the 1990s.  He joined the SACP in 1990. 
Loyal to the Zuma crowd in KwaZulu Natal, Gigaba has been 
plagued by scandal since becoming Deputy Home Affairs 
Minister.  He has admitted to misappropriating public funds, 
and once used public money to buy airline tickets from 
participants in the Malusi Gigaba Leadership Institute.  He 
 
PRETORIA 00001007  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
also once charged the Department of Home Affairs for flowers 
that he sent to his wife.  Gigaba holds degrees in education 
and social policy from the University of Durban-Westville. 
He earned a medal from the Cuban Government for his activism 
in youth issues in 2002.  He was born in 1971 and is married. 
 He enjoys watching soccer, jogging, and working out. 
 
¶5. (U)  Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale is one of 
South Africa's leading businessmen and previously served as 
Gauteng premier from 1994 to 1998.  Sexwale openly sought the 
ANC's nomination as party leader ahead of the ANC's December 
2007 party congress, but switched his support to Zuma when it 
became apparent that the former Deputy President had the 
votes to win.  Rumored to be a frontrunner for the foreign 
affairs ministry, Sexwale will instead steer the portfolio in 
charge of housing.  Sexwale has chaired, or held a stake in, 
many of the country's leading firms, including:  Arcus Gibb, 
Rand Mutual Group of Companies, Trans Hex Group, MOCOH 
Energy, Northam Platinum, and Mvelaphanda Holdings (which he 
resigned from following his acceptance of the Human 
Settlement ministry).  He has served as a director of Altech, 
De Montfort University, Desta Power Matla, Voltex, Gold 
Field, and the 2010 World Cup Preparatory Committee.  From 
2001 to 2008, he served as a non-executive director of ABSA. 
His community activities include working as a trustee for the 
Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Global Philanthropists Circle, 
the Robben Island Ex-Prisoners Trust, and the Business Trust. 
 A longtime ANC member, Sexwale served as an ex-officio 
member of the party's executive committee from 1991 to 1997. 
He chaired the ANC's military headquarters from 1990 to 1991 
and worked on special projects for the party prior to the 
1994 election.  He was a member of the Black Consciousness 
Movement beginning in the late 1960s and joined the ANC's 
underground movement in the 1970s.  He went into exile in the 
Soviet Union and underwent military officer training in 1975. 
 In 1978, he was convicted and charged with terrorism and 
conspiracy to overthrow the South African state.  He spent 13 
years in prison at Robben Island before his release.  Sexwale 
was born in 1953 and has two children.  He enjoys reading and 
watching sports. 
 
¶6. (U)  Deputy Human Settlement Minister Zoliswa Albertina 
Kota-Fredericks, a member of Parliament since 1994, served as 
longtime chair of the Housing Portfolio Committee.  She has 
been an ANC provincial executive committee member since 1992 
and served as the ANC Women's League Provincial chair in 
Western Cape beginning in 2003.  There is not a substantial 
amount of information available on Kota-Fredericks, but she 
began her activism in the 1970s and was in exile at various 
points in Lesotho, Angola, the Soviet Union, Cuba, and 
Zimbabwe.  She was the public secretary for the United 
Democratic Front in 1983 before escaping the country.  She 
served in the ANC's diplomatic mission in Cuba from 1987 to 
1991 before returning to chair the ANC's election activities 
in Western Cape. 
 
¶7. (SBU)  International Relations Minister Maite 
Nkoana-Mashabane was perhaps the biggest surprise of Zuma's 
Cabinet selections as many did not anticipate the 
appointment.  According to local South African observers, 
Qappointment.  According to local South African observers, 
including Iqbal Jhazbhay, Nkoana-Mashabane is "warmer than 
Dlamini-Zuma" and would be nicer to work for.  (Note:  There 
also are rumors that she is a "screamer" and difficult to 
work for.  Yolanda Kemp Spies said she was a horrible High 
Commissioner, but still not as difficult as Dlamini-Zuma. 
End Note.)  Jhazbhay told Poloff that "she did not need to be 
a great leader because she will continue the same policies." 
She reportedly gets along well with one of her deputies, 
Ebrahim Ebrahim.  She traveled with Zuma last year to China 
and India.  Nkoana-Mashabane, a former activist in the United 
Democratic Front, served as South African High Commissioner 
to India and Malaysia before serving in Parliament on foreign 
affairs.  She served in India from 1999 to 2005 and in 
Malaysia from 1995 to 1999.  Jhazbhay said that Zuma wants to 
improve relations with Angola (one of his first trips as ANC 
President was to Angola, and Nkoana-Mashabane made Luanda her 
first international visit) and he views Nkoana-Mashabane as 
an effective broker with Luanda.  Jhazbhay noted that on 
Zimbabwe, he sees Zuma and Nkoana-Mashabane playing "good 
cop, bad cop," with the South African foreign ministry and 
government being the "good cop" and COSATU and SACP being the 
"bad cop."  Nkoana-Mashabane's husband, who died in a 2007 
car accident, was investigated -- and cleared -- on sexual 
 
PRETORIA 00001007  003.2 OF 005 
 
 
harassment charges stemming from his time as South African 
High Commissioner in Indonesia.  He was found guilty by a DFA 
departmental disciplinary committee on 21 counts of sexual 
harassment but Dlamini-Zuma cleared him because she believed 
his story that he was being framed.  At least one of the 
victims pressed charges and they settled the case out of 
court.  After her tours of duty in India and Malaysia, 
Nkoana-Mashabane served as Member in the Executive Council 
for housing and local government in Limpopo and was 
influential in drawing support to Zuma in her capacity as 
Deputy Secretary General of the ANC in Limpopo. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Deputy International Relations Minister Ebrahim 
Ebrahim was long rumored to be positioned as South Africa's 
Foreign Minister, but will serve under Nkoana-Mashabane 
instead.  According to Zuma adviser Mo Shaik, Ebrahim had two 
things against him - his age and an overly ambitious wife. 
Ebrahim is quiet in person and small in stature.  He joined 
the liberation movement in 1952 and participated in the 
Congress of the People campaign, which adopted the Freedom 
Charter in 1955.  He was active in all major campaigns 
against the apartheid during the 1950s.  After the ANC was 
banned, he joined the armed wing of the ANC -- Umkhonto we 
Sizwe ("MK").  In 1961, he was arrested and charged under the 
Sabotage Act with 18 others in the Pietermaritzburg sabotage 
trial.  He was sentenced to 15 years at Robben Island. 
Following his release in 1979, he was banned and his 
movements restricted.  He went into exile in 1980 and 
operated on the frontlines for the MK in Swaziland and 
Zimbabwe.  In 1986, he was kidnapped from Swaziland by the 
South African security forces and charged with high treason. 
He was sentenced to another 20 years on Robben Island.  In 
1991, he was released from jail and then elected to the ANC's 
National Executive Committee.  He became a member of 
Parliament in 1994 and chaired Parliament's Foreign Affairs 
Committee.  He resigned, however, in 2002 to become a 
political adviser.  Following Zuma's win as ANC President in 
2007, Ebrahim worked in Luthuli House on international 
relations.  He was born in 1937 in Durban and holds a degree 
from the University of South Africa. 
 
¶9. (SBU)  Deputy International Relations Minister Sue van der 
Merwe has served in this capacity since 2004.  She joined 
Parliament as an ANC member in 1996, and held positions on a 
number of committees.  Her portfolios included Finance, 
Communication, Environment and Tourism, and the Joint 
Standing Committee on Intelligence.  She served as the ANC's 
Whip from 1999 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2004, she served as 
Parliamentary Councilor to the President of South Africa. 
She began her political career as coordinator for the Black 
Sash Advice Office in Cape Town in 1988.  She was born in 
1954 and enjoys running. 
 
¶10. (SBU)  Justice and Constitutional Development Minister 
Jeff Radebe is one of Zuma's staunchest supporters and 
drafted a highly inflammatory letter to former ANC 
Chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota after Lekota criticized the ANC's 
political direction last year.  His move from the Transport 
ministry to the Justice and Constitutional Development 
ministry is a sign that Radebe may be seeking to position 
himself to follow Zuma as ANC leader.  (Note:  The Transport 
Qhimself to follow Zuma as ANC leader.  (Note:  The Transport 
ministry is increasingly coming under fire from taxi drivers 
and businessmen who are angry that the government is seeking 
to implement a rapid bus transport system.  Away from the 
fire, Radebe may come under less public criticism.  End 
Note.)  Moreover, a spot in the Justice and Constitutional 
Development ministry guarantees that Radebe will be lauded by 
political observers if the ANC opts to leave the Constitution 
unchanged (which the party has promised to do, but many in 
the opposition used the contrary as a campaign theme) and the 
courts free of political cronies.  Radebe has been a member 
of the ANC's National Executive Committee and a member of the 
ANC's National Working Committee since 1991.  He also retains 
his membership on the SACP's Central Committee and chairs the 
ANC's policy unit.  Along with Sexwale, Radebe has been a 
board member for the 2010 World Cup Preparatory Committee -- 
a capacity in which he lobbied strongly for the rapid bus 
transport system.  He began his political career as a student 
activist during his days at the University of Zululand in the 
late 1970s.  He joined the underground movement of the ANC in 
1976 and left for Mozambique in 1977 for training as an MK 
member.  He was a radio journalist in Dar es Salaam for two 
years and worked in the ANC International Department in 
 
PRETORIA 00001007  004.2 OF 005 
 
 
Zambia.  He spent years creating underground ANC and SACP 
structures in South Africa and Lesotho as an MK member; he 
was arrested in Johannesburg in 1986 for these activities and 
served 5 years at Robben Island.  Upon his release, Radebe 
served politically in SACP's leadership core and as chair of 
the ANC's southern Natal regional branches.  During his time 
in these positions, he helped propel Zuma to the premiership 
of KwaZulu Natal.  Radebe was born in 1953 and is married. 
 
¶11. (U)  Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy 
Minister Andries Nel has quietly climbed the ranks of the ANC 
since he joined Parliament in 1994.  There is little 
information available on Nel's political career or life as he 
is noted as "shy and reserved," but he first gained 
prominence in the early 2000s as a Deputy Chief Whip of the 
ANC in Parliament and then as acting Chief Whip of the party, 
a position he first held in 2007.  He is longtime member of 
the ANC's regional executive committee of Tshwane.  Nel's 
father was a loyal servant under the Nationalist Government 
during apartheid.  Nel studied at the University of Pretoria 
and earned a law degree before becoming a human rights 
lawyer.  He married an American in 2005 and the wedding was 
featured in the New York Times. 
 
¶12. (SBU)  Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has held this 
position since 1998 and has been well-documented.  He has 
been a member of Parliament since 1994 and a member of the 
ANC's National Executive Committee since 1998.  In 
Parliament, he was a member of the Portfolio Committee on 
Education from 1994 to 1996 and the Home Affairs Committee 
from 1994 to 1996.  He was a whip of the Parliamentary 
Programming Committee from 1995 to 1998.  In the 1980s, he 
became involved in the labor movement.  He served as chair of 
the Democratic Teachers Union, which stemmed from his 
experience as a high school principal in Cape Town.  From 
1990 to 1994, he served as National President of the 
Democratic Teachers Union.  From 1994 to 1998, he served as 
National President of the South African Democratic Teachers 
Union, which propelled him to his position as Labour 
Minister.  He earned a Bachelors degree from the University 
of South Africa in 1997.  He was born in 1952 in Eastern 
Cape. 
 
¶13. (SBU)  Mining Minister Susan Shabangu served as Deputy 
Minister of Mining and Energy from 1996 to 2004.  More 
recently, she served as Deputy Minister for Safety and 
Security, where she came to prominence one year ago when she 
urged police to shoot criminals to curb the nation's high 
incidence of crime.  Shabangu has a strong union and ANC 
background and is a member of the ANC National Executive 
Committee.  (Note:  See Septel for more information on how 
the mining community sees Shabangu.  End Note.) 
 
¶14. (U)  Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa previously served as 
the Chief Whip of the ANC.  One of former President Thabo 
Mbeki's staunchest critics, he has been in Parliament since 
2002 and is currently a member of the NEC and the ANC's 
National Working Committee.  Prior to Polokwane he was a key 
lobbyist for Jacob Zuma's bid to become party leader; he was 
accused of being one of the leaders responsible for 
organizing party members bused in to boo former Mbeki.  He 
was elected to the NEC of the ANC's Youth League in 1994 and 
Qwas elected to the NEC of the ANC's Youth League in 1994 and 
served in its National Working Committee as Secretary for 
Organization from 1994 to 2004.  He was deployed to the ANC's 
National Organizing team in 2001 and served as chairman of 
the Minerals and Energy Portfolio Committee in 2004.  He has 
ties to the labor movement, having served in 1989 as chairman 
of the Southern Natal Unemployed Workers Union, an initiative 
of COSATU.  Mthethwa was recruited into underground work for 
the ANC as part of Operation Vula.  He has extensive ties to 
the ANC in KwaZulu Natal, which he has capitalized on as 
chairman of the ANC's Political Committee in KwaZulu Natal. 
He has in the past denied meeting requests from the Consul 
General in Durban.  He is known for his tough talk and 
militancy.  He was born on January 23, 1967 and is married. 
He enjoys writing and sports. 
 
¶15. (SBU)  Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula's 
appointment is not without controversy.  As one pundit 
quipped, "Mbalula's only past experiences with policing 
probably are not good ones."  He headed the ANC's 2009 
election campaign and is a longtime ANC Youth League leader. 
He first served politically as leader of the Botshabelo Youth 
 
PRETORIA 00001007  005.2 OF 005 
 
 
Congress from 1986 to 1987.  He became an area member of the 
United Democratic Front in 1989 and secretary of the ANC 
Provisional Youth Committee in 1990.  He served as a regional 
secretary of the ANC Youth League from 1991 to 1994, as a 
provincial secretary in the Free State from 1994 to 1996, as 
chair of political education from 1996 to 1998, and as 
secretary general from 1998 to 2004.  From 2004 to 2008, he 
was President of the ANC Youth League and lead the 
organization during its controversial dealings with Brett 
Kebble.  The Lembede Investment Holdings firm -- the league's 
financial arm -- has been controversial since at least 2000 
because of how quickly it grew and because it received a 
significant capital injection from the late mining baron 
Kebble.  The firm reportedly holds more than 12 million 
dollars.  Last year, current ANC Youth League President 
Julius Malema began angling for greater control of the firm 
in the name of "pushing away old comrades who became 
millionaires in the name of youth."  Mbalula is an affiliate 
member of Socialist International and has been trained in 
psychotherapy.  He was born in 1971. 
 
End Part Two 
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