Jump to content

Baleka Mbete

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baleka Mbete
Mbete in 2016
5th Deputy President of South Africa
In office
25 September 2008 – 9 May 2009
PresidentKgalema Motlanthe
Preceded byPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Succeeded byKgalema Motlanthe
2nd and 5th Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa
In office
21 May 2014 – 21 May 2019
PresidentJacob Zuma
Cyril Ramaphosa
DeputyLechesa Tsenoli
Preceded byMax Sisulu
Succeeded byThandi Modise
In office
12 July 2004 – 25 September 2008
PresidentThabo Mbeki
DeputyGwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde
Preceded byFrene Ginwala
Succeeded byGwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde
Other legislative offices
Member of the National Assembly
In office
9 May 1994 – 9 May 2009
In office
21 May 2014 – 7 May 2019
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly
In office
May 1996 – April 2004
PresidentNelson Mandela
Thabo Mbeki
SpeakerFrene Ginwala
Preceded byBhadra Ranchod
Succeeded byGwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde
Party offices
National Chairperson of the African National Congress
In office
18 December 2007 – 18 December 2017
PresidentJacob Zuma
Preceded byMosiuoa Lekota
Succeeded byGwede Mantashe
Secretary-General of the African National Congress Women's League
In office
April 1991 – December 1993
PresidentGertrude Shope
Succeeded byNosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
Personal details
Born (1949-09-24) 24 September 1949 (age 75)
Clermont, Durban
Natal, Union of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouses
Nape Khomo
​
(m. 2016)​
​
​
(m. 1978; div. 1992)​
EducationInanda Seminary School
Lovedale Teachers' College

Baleka Mbete (born 24 September 1949) is a South African politician who was the Deputy President of South Africa from September 2008 to May 2009. She was also the Speaker of the National Assembly for two non-consecutive terms from 2004 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2019. She also served as Deputy Speaker between 1996 and 2004.[1] A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she was first elected to the National Assembly in 1994 and stepped down from her seat in 2019.

Born in KwaZulu-Natal, Mbete is a teacher by training and a former anti-apartheid activist, initially through the Black Consciousness Movement. Between 1976 and 1990, she was stationed with the ANC in exile outside South Africa; during this period, she was also a prominent cultural activist as a poet and the head of the Medu Art Ensemble. Upon her return to South Africa, she represented the ANC at the negotiations to end apartheid and was a central figure in the relaunch of the ANC Women's League, serving as the league's secretary-general from 1991 to 1993.

Mbete was elected to the National Assembly in the first post-apartheid elections in 1994 and served in her seat until 2019, with the exception of a hiatus from 2009 to 2014. Her rise through the institution began in 1996, when she was elected as Deputy Speaker, and continued during the third democratic Parliament, when she succeeded Frene Ginwala as the second Speaker. In the last year of the third Parliament, she ascended to the Deputy Presidency during the reshuffle occasioned by the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki in September 2008; she held the office during the brief term of Mbeki's successor, President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Although she declined to return to Parliament after the 2009 general election, Mbete returned in May 2014 in her former office as Speaker of the National Assembly. She left her parliamentary seat again after the 2019 general election, though she remained active in the ANC Women's League.

A member of the ANC since 1976, Mbete served as the party's National Chairperson from December 2007 to December 2017 during Jacob Zuma's presidency. She was a member of the ANC National Executive Committee from 1994 to 2022.

Early life and education

[edit]

Mbete was born on 24 September 1949 to a Hlubi family[2] in Clermont, a township in Durban in the former Natal Province.[3] She spent part of her childhood with her grandmother in the Northern Transvaal, where she attended pre-school.[3] In 1958,[4] her family moved to the Cape Province so that her father could take up work as a librarian at Fort Hare University. He later lost his job because of his affiliation with the South African Communist Party.[3] Her mother was a nurse, and she was the second child and eldest daughter in the family.[5]

After matriculating from the Inanda Seminary in 1968,[6] Mbete enrolled in Eshowe Training College in Eshowe and later – after she was expelled from Eshowe – in the teaching college at Lovedale in Alice.[3] She qualified as a teacher in 1973 and returned to Durban to teach at a high school in KwaMashu.[4][6]

Anti-apartheid activism

[edit]

While teaching in Natal, Mbete became involved in the Black Consciousness Movement, which at the time was ascendant in the struggle against apartheid. In early 1976, Mbete and her brother were detained for their political activism.[3] Upon her release, she went into exile, leaving South Africa for Swaziland on 10 April 1976.[3][4]

Exile: 1976–1990

[edit]

In exile, Mbete joined the anti-apartheid African National Congress (ANC). She also taught at a high school in Mbabane, Swaziland until 1977, when she moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[6] In Dar es Salaam, she pursued her ANC work with earnest, joining the party's Department of Information and Publicity – specifically, she worked on Radio Freedom – as well as its Women's Section, the department that substituted for the then-defunct ANC Women's League. Mbete was regional secretary for the Women's Section in Tanzania from 1978 to 1981.[6]

From 1981 to 1983, she was an ANC public relations officer in Nairobi, Kenya,[6] where her husband worked.[3] Later she took posts in Gaborone, Botswana (1983 to 1986); Harare, Zimbabwe (1986 to 1987); and Lusaka, Zambia (1987 to 1990).[6] In addition to her work with the Women's Section, she was involved in cultural activism and education, including as head of the Medu Art Ensemble;[3] she was also a published poet, writing under her married name, Baleka Kgositsile.[7]

Transition: 1990–1994

[edit]

Mbete returned to South Africa from exile in June 1990.[8] In subsequent years, she was a member of the ANC's delegation to the negotiations to end apartheid.[9] In addition, the ANC Women's League was relaunched in August 1990, and Mbete served on the interim leadership corps that oversaw its re-establishment.[6] At the league's first elective conference in April 1991, held in Kimberley,[10] Mbete was elected as secretary-general of the league, serving under president Gertrude Shope.[11] She served a single term in the position: at the second elective conference in December 1993, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was elected to succeed her.[12]

Career in government

[edit]

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Mbete was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly – the beginning of her 25-year tenure in the lower house of the South African Parliament.[6] In addition, at the ANC's 49th National Conference in December 1994, she was elected to her first of several terms in the ANC's National Executive Committee; by number of votes received, she was ranked 17th of the 60 ordinary members elected to the committee.[13]

In 1995, Mbete was appointed as chair of the ANC's parliamentary caucus and as a member of the Presidential Panel on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[6]

Deputy Speaker: 1996–2004

[edit]

In May 1996,[14] she was promoted to deputise Frene Ginwala as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly; she succeeded Bhadra Ranchod, who was appointed as an ambassador. On 14 June 1999, after that year's general election, she was re-elected to a full term as Deputy Speaker; she beat the opposition candidate, Dene Smuts of the Democratic Party, in a vote, receiving 326 votes against Smuts's 47.[15]

During this period, in April 1997, it transpired that Mbete had received an improperly issued driver's license at a testing centre in Mpumalanga. Mbete was quoted as saying that she was too busy to wait in a queue for her driving test, although she later denied having said this.[5] The scandal led to a broader investigation into corruption into the Mpumalanga traffic department and to the dismissal of a provincial minister,[16] though Mbete was not charged with wrongdoing and maintained that she had been "caught up in a web of impropriety of which I was unaware".[17][18][19]

First term as Speaker: 2004–2008

[edit]

In the aftermath of the 2004 general election, the ANC announced that it would nominate Mbete to replace Frene Ginwala as Speaker of the National Assembly.[20] She was elected unopposed to the office on 23 April 2004, with Gwen Mahlangu as her deputy.[21]

Mbete (left) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his 2006 visit to South Africa

Mbete's term as Speaker coincided with the Travelgate scandal, which pertained to the abuse of parliamentary travel vouchers by politicians. The Mail & Guardian said that she was at the forefront of the ANC's "damage limitation exercise" in that regard.[22] She also publicly demonstrated support for Tony Yengeni, an ANC politician who was convicted of defrauding Parliament in 2003;[22] she even accompanied Yengeni to Pollsmoor Prison in 2006 when he reported to serve his prison sentence.[23] However, Mbete maintained that she was committed to strengthening Parliament and its committees, saying that she had an inherited "an institution that was a rubber stamp".[24] Her efforts in this regard apparently led her into conflict with Zingile Dingani, the Secretary to Parliament, who sought an expanded mandate for his own office.[24][25]

In January 2006, Mbete chartered a jet, at a cost of R471,900 (around $60,000), to attend the inauguration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as President of Liberia. The only other passenger on the plane was a member of her staff.[26] Ferial Haffajee criticised the expenditure as wasteful.[27]

Election to ANC chairmanship

[edit]

In the middle of her term as Speaker, Mbete was nominated to stand for an ANC leadership position during the party's 52nd National Conference, which was held in Polokwane in December 2007. She was initially nominated for the position of deputy secretary-general, but she withdrew from that race when she was unexpectedly nominated, from the floor of the conference, to stand for the party chairmanship;[28] Tokyo Sexwale had been nominated for the chair, but he announced that he would withdraw in Mbete's favour in order to promote "the empowerment of women".[29]

The following day, on 18 December 2007, Mbete won election to a five-year term as ANC national chairperson. Aligned to winning presidential candidate Jacob Zuma,[28] she defeated Joel Netshitenzhe – who was aligned to outgoing president Thabo Mbeki – in a landslide, receiving 61% of the vote.[30]

Deputy President: 2008–2009

[edit]

On 20 September 2008, the ANC announced that it had asked Mbeki to resign as President of South Africa. He tendered his resignation to Mbete's office the following day.[31]

It had been speculated that Mbete would succeed Mbeki as President, which would have made her the first female head of state in South Africa's history; however, the ANC announced that Kgalema Motlanthe, Deputy President of the ANC, would assume that position. On 23 September, Mbete was announced by the SABC as the most likely candidate for Deputy President of South Africa following Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka's resignation from the position.[32]

On 25 September 2008, she was appointed by Motlanthe as Deputy President.[33]

Hiatus from Parliament: 2009–2014

[edit]

In the next general election in April 2009, Mbete was re-elected to her parliamentary seat but, somewhat dramatically, declined to be sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 6 May, despite being present at the inauguration.[34] Incoming President Jacob Zuma announced that Kgalema Motlanthe would replace her as Deputy President, and the ANC said that she would move to Luthuli House to pursue her party work full-time instead of returning to Parliament.[35] Mbete denied that the confusion over her swearing-in had arisen because she was holding out for reappointment as Deputy President, saying, "It was always an interim arrangement."[36]

By December 2009, the Daily Maverick observed that Mbete had "departed the public political stage" for reasons that remained mysterious to the public.[34] However, she completed her term as ANC national chairperson, and she was comfortably re-elected to a second term in that office on 18 December 2012, at the ANC's 53rd National Conference; she beat Thandi Modise with 76% of the vote.[37]

Second term as Speaker: 2014–2019

[edit]

Mbete returned to an ANC seat in the National Assembly in the 2014 general election, and the party nominated her to return to her prior office as Speaker of the National Assembly. During the assembly's first sitting on 21 May 2014, she easily defeated the opposition candidate, receiving 260 votes compared to the 88 cast for Nosimo Balindlela of the Democratic Alliance.[38]

Allegations of bias

[edit]

On 10 September 2014, five opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters, stated that they planned to submit a motion of no confidence in Mbete, and claimed that she could not simultaneously serve as chairwoman of the ANC and as Speaker of the National Assembly. A debate held in Parliament on 16 September resulted in the motion being rejected by 234 votes to none. This was a result of opposition parties collectively walking out of the house after the ANC tried to change the vote into one of confidence in Mbete instead.[39][40]

More generally, Mbete has faced accusations, over the course of several years, that she is biased in favour of the ANC and a puppet of President Zuma.[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] In March 2016, the Constitutional Court held, in Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly, that the National Assembly under Mbete's stewardship had breached the South African Constitution by undermining rather than implementing the Public Protector's Nkandla report.

Mbete with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif in September 2017

ANC presidential campaign

[edit]

In the run-up to the ANC's 54th National Conference, which would elect Zuma's successor as ANC president, Mbete identified herself as a presidential contender as early as April 2016.[49][50] The ANC Women's League endorsed another candidate – Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma – and Mbete was not viewed as a frontrunner, but she continued to campaign, under the banner #BM17, until the conference was held in December 2017.[51][52] On the first night of the conference, however, Mbete endorsed Cyril Ramaphosa – Dlamini-Zuma's main rival – for the presidency.[53] It was reported that she supported Ramaphosa because she was disappointed that Zuma had not supported her campaign.[54]

Mbete did not run for re-election as national chairperson at the conference and did not appear on the ballot paper for any top leadership position, but she was re-elected to the National Executive Committee.[55] In the assessment of the Mail & Guardian, Mbete's influence in the party declined after her failed presidential campaign.[56]

Succession and aftermath

[edit]

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Mbete told the Sowetan that she did not know "what's coming in the next couple of months".[57] When the election was held in May, she was re-elected to her parliamentary seat, but, on 20 May, the ANC announced that it would nominate Thandi Modise, the outgoing head of the National Council of Provinces, to succeed Mbete as Speaker.[58] The following day, the ANC confirmed rumours that Mbete had withdrawn her name from the party list, meaning that she would not return to her parliamentary seat.[59]

In March 2022, Mbete told Radio 702 that she was "done with politics".[60] However, two months later, she was appointed as the interim convener of the ANC Women's League after the league's incumbent leadership was disbanded by the National Executive Committee. In that capacity she led the league, with interim coordinator Maropene Ramokgopa, until a new leadership corps was elected.[61][62] At the mainstream ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022, she was not re-elected to the National Executive Committee, losing her seat for the first time since 1994.[63]

Commercial interests

[edit]

Mbete's links to business have been questioned. She and provincial secretary of the ANC in the Northern Cape Dr K M Seimelo are shareholders in Dyambu Holdings,[64] which is involved in building the massive Gautrain public transport project in the province of Gauteng. Dyambu Holdings is reported to have had links with slain magnate Brett Kebble.[65] In 2010, she was implicated in a R25 million Gold Fields bribe under the guise of a "BEE" transaction by US investigators.[66]

Personal life

[edit]

Mbete married Keorapetse Kgositsile, an exiled writer and poet, in 1978.[3] They divorced in 1992,[4] and she remarried to Nape Khomo, a businessman, in 2016.[2] She has three sons and two daughters.[14]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Former Presiding Officers". Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Baleka Mbete's love story". City Press. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hogg, Briana T. (31 January 2017). "The Role and Impact of Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile and Women in South Africa Politics". South African History Online. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "Baleka Mbete: The Woman Behind The Speaker". HuffPost UK. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b "'I did nothing to resign about'". The Mail & Guardian. 8 August 1997. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Baleka Mbete, Ms". South African Government. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  7. ^ Gilfillan, Lynda (1992). "Black Women Poets in Exile: The Weapon of Words". Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature. 11 (1): 79–93. doi:10.2307/463783. ISSN 0732-7730.
  8. ^ "Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile", South African History online.
  9. ^ "Baleka Mbete". Our Constitution. 24 September 1949. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Winnie Mandela's Defeat In ANC Vote Is Hailed". Christian Science Monitor. 30 April 1991. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Baleka Mbete: a JZ ally who wants a state capture probe". IOL. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  12. ^ 'For Freedom and Equality': Celebrating Women in South African History (PDF). South African History Online. 2011. p. 26.
  13. ^ "49th National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected at Conference". ANC. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  14. ^ a b Percival, Jenny (19 September 2008). "Baleka Mbete profile". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Ginwala returns as Speaker". The Mail & Guardian. 14 June 1999. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  16. ^ "'Fire MEC', says licence scam report". The Mail & Guardian. 23 May 1997. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Sacked MEC will fight licence probe". The Mail & Guardian. 26 May 1997. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Global Integrity – South Africa Timeline". Global Integrity. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007.
  19. ^ "Up to their necks in sleaze..." The Mail & Guardian. 23 December 1997. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  20. ^ Pressly, Donwald (22 April 2004). "Madam Speaker silenced". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Mbete, Mahlangu elected to top posts". The Mail & Guardian. 23 April 2004. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  22. ^ a b "Why Mbete?". The Mail & Guardian. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  23. ^ Jurgens, André; Ndivhuho Mafela and Philani Nombembe (27 August 2006). "Jailed Yengeni shows no remorse". The Times. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  24. ^ a b "MPs seek new powers". The Mail & Guardian. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  25. ^ "Goniwe hides in Parliament". The Mail & Guardian. 13 October 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  26. ^ Dawes, Nic (24 March 2006). "Now the speaker joins the jet set". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  27. ^ "Flights of fancy". The Mail & Guardian. 10 April 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  28. ^ a b Booysen, Susan (2011), "Aluta continua, from Polokwane to Mangaung", The African National Congress and the Regeneration of Political Power, Wits University Press, pp. 33–84, ISBN 978-1-86814-542-3, JSTOR 10.18772/12011115423.5, retrieved 9 December 2021
  29. ^ "ANC delegates start voting". News24. 18 December 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  30. ^ "Results for the election of ANC officials". African National Congress. Archived from the original on 29 June 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  31. ^ "Mbeki resigns before the nation". The Mail & Guardian. 21 September 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  32. ^ Mbete to be appointed interim deputy president. Sabcnews.com. Retrieved 8 October 2012. Archived 5 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ "South Africa: New President Removes Health Minister", allAfrica.com, 25 September 2008.
  34. ^ a b Grootes, Stephen (7 December 2009). "The rise (and denied fall?) of Baleka Mbete". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  35. ^ "Deputy President Baleka Mbete out of government". EWN. 8 May 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  36. ^ "Mbete denies she was chasing deputy president post". The Mail & Guardian. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  37. ^ "Mangaung: The ANC's newly elected top six". The Mail & Guardian. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  38. ^ "Baleka Mbete sworn in as speaker of the House". The Mail & Guardian. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  39. ^ "Mbete motion defeated after opposition walkout". news24. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  40. ^ "Opposition unites to say Baleka Mbete must go". Times Live. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  41. ^ "Mbete vows to protect Parliament". IOL. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  42. ^ Stone, Setumo (17 February 2015). "Mbete's incendiary remarks reveals bias and paranoia". The Dispatch. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  43. ^ Makhanya, Mondli (14 February 2016). "Baleka Mbete, a crime scene cleaner". CityPress. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  44. ^ SAPA (22 March 2015). "Parliament denies accusations of bias". IOL. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  45. ^ Zuma, President Jacob; GCIS, Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete Picture. "Mbete shielded president from R4bn jet issue". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  46. ^ Ackroyd, Bianca. "WATCH: 'Step Aside Mbete' Demands Opposition". www.enca.com. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  47. ^ "The World According to Baleka: Making up rules for Parliament". www.dailymaverick.co.za. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  48. ^ Makinana, Andisiwe (17 September 2014). "Baleka Mbete's parly position brings the House down". The M&G Online. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  49. ^ "Baleka Mbete: I've been asked to lead the ANC". Business Day. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  50. ^ Munusamy, Ranjeni (19 April 2016). "Baleka Mbete: Madam Speaker, Madam President?". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  51. ^ "Baleka Mbete says her bid for ANC's presidency is 'not formally on the table yet'". Business Day. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  52. ^ "ANC presidential race wide open". The Mail & Guardian. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  53. ^ Herman, Paul (16 December 2007). "Baleka Mbete endorses Cyril Ramaphosa for ANC president". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  54. ^ "Point of order, Madam Speaker!". The Mail & Guardian. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  55. ^ "Here is the ANC's new NEC". Citypress. 21 December 2017. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  56. ^ "Where are all the (ex)president's men and women?". The Mail & Guardian. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  57. ^ "Speaker of parliament Baleka Mbete anxious about her future". Sowetan. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  58. ^ "Thandi Modise to replace Baleka Mbete as National Assembly speaker". Daily Dispatch. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  59. ^ "Baleka Mbete and Malusi Gigaba decline parliamentary seats". Sunday Times. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  60. ^ "Baleka Mbete: I am done with with[sic] politics, young people must lead". 702. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  61. ^ Khumalo, Juniour (12 July 2022). "'It was not about what I preferred, but the task at hand': Mbete on taking up ANCWL convener post". News24. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  62. ^ "Ramaphosa advisor touted to lead tentative ANC Women's League structure alongside Baleka Mbete". News24. 21 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  63. ^ "Scores of senior ANC leaders including Pravin Gordhan, Derek Hanekom, Joel Netshitenzhe, Tito Mboweni booted out". IOL. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  64. ^ Mudzuli, Kennedy (27 November 2006). ""Gravy train" elite slated". The Citizen. Retrieved 21 August 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  65. ^ wa ka Ngobeni, Wisani; Dominic Mahlangu and Dumisane Lubisi (6 March 2007). "A finger in all the right pies". Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  66. ^ McKune, Craig (6 September 2013). "Investigators: 'Gold Fields bribed Mbete'". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
[edit]
Political offices
Preceded by Speaker of the National Assembly
2004–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Deputy President of South Africa
2008–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Speaker of the National Assembly
2014–2019 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baleka_Mbete&oldid=1232940991"