Who is Baleka Mbete?
2008-09-25 17:26
This week Baleka Mbete's celebrates her
59th birthday. A call from the ruling party to become the Deputy President of
the country is a fine way to wish her many happy returns.
Mbete has no experience of cabinet, and none of running a government
department, so her presidency is likely to be a case of learning as rapidly as
she can while doing the job. Some innovations are therefore likely.
As Speaker of the National Assembly she has, nevertheless, been the
executive head of a department with a budget of around a billion rand, which
puts her administrative task on a par with a minister.
But her administration has been often strongly criticised, not least over
the way many (but not all) guilty members of parliament were allowed to get
away with cheating the public over their travel expenses in the 'Travelgate'
saga.
She herself was at one time on the list of 200 members who were found to
have misused the travel funds, though she has been reported as having paid the
money back in full.
She also found herself in bother over acquiring a driving licence without
ever going near a driving test centre and explained at the time that she was
far too busy to have to go and stand in queues.
When the opposition objected to her being at once the chair of the ruling
party - to which post she was elected at Polokwane last year, after having in
timely fashion expressed her support of Jacob Zuma for party president - and
staying on as the supposedly impartial director of Parliament, she said she was
well able to do both jobs. After all had not her predecessor in the chair of
the party also held down the not inconsiderable task of defence minister?
And when it was pointed out that she also took on the job of liaison
between Parliament and the party, which impugned her impartiality, she said
that anyway the speaker's job had always been a party political position.
She was reported to be a shareholder in Dyambu Holdings which is involved
in building the massive Gautrain project. Dyambu Holdings was reported to have
had links with murdered magnate Brett Kebble.
Mbete ran the National Assembly like a school-mistress, which was of course
her early training. She gave a severe wigging, for example, to Democratic
Alliance MP Mike Waters when he seemed disinclined to take her instructions and
ordered him from the house smartly in a manner that was caught on television,
and exposed her inner tiger-cat.
Her teaching diploma came from Lovedale College in the Eastern Cape, which
at one time was the only place that offered training for black teachers. Thabo
Mbeki and Chris Hani were also former students at the college situated a little
north of Alice.
She taught in Kwamashu until 1975, and then in exile in Mbabane, Swaziland.
She worked in exile in Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya as administrative
secretary for the national executive and as an official of the women's league.
In the country's first democratic election she became an MP, and was plainly a
rising star.
She became deputy speaker after the National Party left the government of
national unity in 1996, and Speaker in 2004 after Frene Ginwala was edged out.
She married a poet, but has since divorced him, and dropped his surname
Kgositsile.