Angela Thokozile Didiza, is currently the Member of the Executive in the 6th Parliament as Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development under the leadership of President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa.
Political Background
1994 – 1999 served as the first woman Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the first Cabinet under President Nelson Mandela’s tenure.
1999 – 2004 appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.
2004 – 2006 continued in the same portfolio as Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs. It was during this term of Office that Didiza convened the National Land Summit in 2005 involving a range of stakeholders to reflect on South Africa’s Land Reform.
In 2006-2008, Hon Didiza, was appointed as the Minister of Public Works.
Minister Angela Thokozile Didiza, prior becoming a Member of Parliament, worked in a number of organisations in various capacities such as:-
– Worked as Legal Secretary at Mafika Mbuli
– Worked as Programme Officer at Diakonia
– 1989 – 1992 She was the Youth Co-ordinator of South African Council of Young Women Christian Association (YWCA).
– 1992 – 1994 served as the Secretary General of the Women’s National Coalition that produced the Women’s Charter for
Effective Equality and tabled in the first Parliament of South Africa.
– In 2005, Hon Didiza was named as the Young Global Leader by the World Economic Foundation.
– In 2011 – 2014, Didiza was the Project Consultant at the University of South Africa responsible for the establishment of the Archie Mafeje Research Institute on Applied Social Policy.
Hon Didiza serves as the Board Member for the:-
• Thabo Mbeki Foundation and;
• Ohlange Institute
Serves as the National Executive Committee and National Working Committee Member of the African National Congress from 1997 – 2007 and was re- elected in 2012 to date.
Hon Didiza was re – elected as the Member of Parliament in the 5th Parliament of the Republic of South Africa and appointed as the House Chairperson responsible for Internal Arrangements. In 2016, she was elected as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Africa Region.
In 2007 She completed a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA).
In 2015 she graduated a Masters in Tertiary Education Management from the University of Melboure in Australia.