By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
ANC national executive committee (NEC) member and Deputy Minister in the Presidency Hlengiwe Mkhize has died. She was 69 years old.
Mkhize was first elected to the National Assembly in 2009 as a member of the ANC and served as Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services between 26 May 2014 and 31 March 2017, having been appointed to the executive by former president Jacob Zuma.
From 31 March 2017 to 17 October 2017, Mkhize was home affairs minister.
She was later moved to the position of Higher Education and Training between 17 October 2017 and 26 February 2018, and in February 2018 was removed from Cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Mkhize was later appointed as Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities.
Mkhize held a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Social Work and Sociology from the University of Zululand; Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, and a Master of Clinical Psychology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Official parliamentary records state that, while completing her tertiary education, Mkhize also served as a student leader at the University of Zululand, and was later on the Academic Staff Association at the University of Zululand.
She was a senior lecturer and researcher at Wits from 1990 until 1995, and was a board member of the South African Prisoner’s Organisation for Human Rights from 1994 to 1995.
Prior to her appointment in 2009, Mkhize was ambassador to the Netherlands.
Mkhize was the treasurer-general of the ANC Women’s League and served as ambassador to the Netherlands between 2005 and 2009. She was the also chairperson of the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation.