Lindiwe Ntshalintshali

Leonah Lindiwe Mabona-Ntshalintshali (born 11 April 1977 in Witbank), known as Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, is a South African politician who currently serves as MEC for the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation[1][2] as well as the acting Provincial Secretary of the African National Congress (ANC) in Mpumalanga.[3] She is a former mayor for the Emalahleni Local Municipality in Witbank as well as a former Deputy President of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).[4]

Lindiwe Ntshalintshali

MPL
MEC for the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation
Assumed office
27 May 2019
PremierRefilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane
Preceded byThandi Shongwe
Mayor of Emalahleni Local Municipality
In office
July 2015 – February 2018
Preceded bySalome Sithole
Succeeded byLinah Malatjie
Provincial deputy secretary of the Mpumalanga ANC
Assumed office
December 2015
Preceded byViolet Siwela
Personal details
Born
Leonah Lindiwe Mabona

(1977-04-11) 11 April 1977
Lynville (Witbank), Mpumalanga
CitizenshipSouth Africa
NationalitySouth African
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouse(s)Mfanimpela Ntshalintshali
RelationsMarried
ResidencePhola
EducationMabande Comprehensive High School
ProfessionPolitician, Nurse

Early life and family

Ntshalintshali was born in Lynville, Witbank, on 11 April 1977, and she moved to Phola, where she grew up. She is married to businessman Mfanimpela Ntshalintshali.[5]

Career

Ntshalintshali has been serving as MEC for the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation since the May 2019 general elections.[6] She also became a member of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature during this year . She had been active in the ANCYL and ANC while a nurse at the Middelburg Hospital .

In July 2015, the ANC in Mpumalanga recalled Emalahleni mayor Salome Sithole and replaced him with Ntshalintshali[7][8][9]

The ANC said the reason for this decision was because they wanted to "rejuvenate" the ANC[10] ahead of the August 2016 local government elections.

Ntshalintshali returned to the position of Emalahleni mayor after the August 2016 local government elections after the ANC was declared the winner of the elections,[11] serving until March 2018 when she resigned[12] to go focus at party's provincial headquarters as an acting secretary[13][14] after David Mabuza, then chairperson of the Mpumalanga ANC, was elected the ANC deputy president, and Violet Siwela, then deputy chairperson, was elected member of the National Executive Committee, constitutionally compelling provincial secretary Mandla Ndlovu to come serve as acting provincial chairperson and Ntshalintshali, who was deputy provincial secretary, to come assume the role of acting provincial secretary.[15][16]

While mayor of Emalahleni, Ntshalintshali in November 2016 was elected one of the three deputy presidents of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) – the two of which were eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and Sebenzile Ngangelizwe of Lejweleputswa District Municipality while Joburg mayor Parks Tau became the President.[17] She was also elected President of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) of Africa.[18]

She was elected deputy secretary of the ANC in Mpumalanga during a December 2015 elective congress that elected Mabuza for a third term as ANC provincial chairperson. Vusi Shongwe was elected provincial treasurer, Mandla Ndlovu secretary, Violet Siwela (deputy chairperson) and Ntshalintshali (deputy secretary).[19][20]

Scandals

Ntshalintshali was accused of diverting R1.5 million of service delivery funds to buy a mayoral car, a Lexus SUV, in 2016[21][22] She withdrew the purchase when the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) protested against it.[23]

During this time Ntshalintshali also allegedly splurged R2.1 million in 29 days while the embattled Emalahleni municipality was undergoing financial crisis. The DA asked the Auditor-General to investigate how the R2.1 million was spent on a company called Track Optimum International between 4 October and 2 November 2016 to protect her private residence in Phola, at R64 350 per day of tax payers’ money[24]

The expenditure was allegedly approved by municipal manager Theo van Vuuren, who in 2013 caused public outcry after he splurged R20 million for 20 bodyguards to protect him and other senior staff while the municipality was placed under administration.

The owner of the company said to have supplied Van Vurren with bodyguards in 2013 – Verne Clark – was found to be the same man at the centre of the new R2.1 million Ntshalintshali controversy. The Emalahleni local municipality responded by saying that only R1.6 million was spent, and not R2.1 million, and said this money was spent for the protection of all councillors whose lives were in danger[25]

In January 2020, an audio of her discussing government tender deals with an alleged secret lover[26] emerged while an MEC. In the audio, which was aired by the SABC, Ntshalintshali also discusses firing her chief of staff Kingdom Mabuza,[27][28] a journalist by profession and her media liaison officer while mayor at Emalahleni local municipality[29] A call for her to be suspended was made but Ntshalintshali survived, arguing that all was a tactic to discredit her because according to the law nobody had a right to record the private conversation of any South African.[30]

Assault and hijacking

On 17 July 2019, Ntshalintshali laid a charge of assault[31] against her ANC junior, Ngrayi Ngwenya, who was regional chairperson of the Ehlanzeni ANC[32] after a scuffle broke out while the ANC was convening a regional general council (RGC) meant to align the two regions of Bohlabela and Ehlanzeni into one in line with government demarcation rules and ANC constitution.[33]

But a disagreement between members at the Nutting House Lodge in Mbombela where the RGC was held led to chairs being thrown at Ntshalintshali while she was on the podium announcing the names of the leaders to serve in the newly established Regional Task Team.[34] Two cops and Ntshalintshali were injured in the scuffle and the NEC took a decision to suspend Ngwenya and former eHlanzeni treasurer Phindiwe Nkuna's ANC memberships pending disciplinary processes.[35][36][37]

Later Ngwenya was freed by the party's national disciplinary committee (NDC),[38][39] finding that he didn't in fact assault Ntshalintshali.[40] Nkuna was found guilty for assaulting her and ordered to apologise to her and the ANC within 7 days.[41][42]

Ntshalintshali later criticised the NDC for freeing Ngwenya, a known violent leader of the ANC and with numerous cases of assaulting people, saying "the ANC cannot claim to fight gender-based violence while they cannot protect us who are inside the organisation".[43]

She also said she observed something was absolutely wrong with the whole NDC sitting on 26 and 27 September 2019 in Gauteng. She told the City Press newspaper that amongst those who were presiding over the case was Ngwenya's known ally Bongani Bongo who mysteriously formed part of the ANC's NDC after he asked to be excused.

The NDC was chaired by Mildred Oliphant and included 6 additional members who in included Bongo, Nathi Mthethwa, Nocawe Mafu, Beauty Dlulane, Pinky Moloi and Faith Muthambi.

Both Mafu and Moloi didn't attend most of the time arguments were being made during the hearing as they had to attend to government work.

Muthambi was the only member who didn't put her signature at the end of the NDC findings document – apparently because she was not present while the disciplinary committee was hearing the ANC vs Ngwenya and Nkuna case.

Ntshalintshali said that she did address Mthethwa and raised concerns about Bongo and Ngwenya being friends, asking that Bongo, a lawyer and ANC politician from Siyabuswa in Mpumalanga, should excuse himself from the case.

“I told comrade Nathi that Bongo is Ngrayi's friend. Bongo once represented Ngrayi in a provincial disciplinary matter,” she told City Press.

She said Bongo had initially asked to be excused from the NDC – because he was still recovering from the illness that ambushed him in the second week of August 2019[44][45][46] – but was suddenly available.

On 19 September 2018, Ntshalintshali drove in her maroon Mercedes Benz GLC Coupè, sent by the ANC to go mourn at the home of Nokhaya Mnisi, the ANC parliamentarian from Standerton who died on 18 September 2018 of an illness.[47] Ntshalintshali asked her elder sister Zanele to accompany her to Standerton.

On their way back, the two were ambushed[48] by four armed men while she was dropping off Zanele in Phola township, at around 7.30pm. The Merc and other personal belongings were taken from them before they were dumped far away the N4 near Bronkhorstspruit, closer to Pretoria. The following day a suspect was arrested and the car found.[49]

Sour relations with Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane

Ntshalintshali is one of the politicians in Mpumalanga rebelling against deputy president David Mabuza's handpicked successor Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane. Both Ntshalintshali and Mtsweni-Tsipane fight over the control of the province since Mabuza was elected national deputy president of the ANC at Nasrec national conference[50][51]

Ntshalintshali is Mtsweni-Tsipane's boss in the ANC being the Provincial Secretary and Mtsweni-Tsipane is Ntshalintshali's boss in government as the Premier of Mpumalanga, where Ntshalintshali serves under her as MEC. Mtsweni-Tsipane is deployed by the ANC to the position of Premier and Ntshalintshali is appointed by Mtsweni-Tsipane to the provincial cabinet position of MEC.

In late 2019 Ntshalintshali began to publicly rebel against Mtsweni-Tsipane, mobilising other women leaders to come denounce the "parachuting" of Mtsweni-Tsipane to ANC power[52][53][54] by Mabuza after Mabuza apparently favoured her to succeed him as ANC provincial chairperson[55] on a lobby camp that wanted Mabuza's allies - Finance MEC Pat Ngomane as Provincial secretary, Health MEC Sasekani Manzini as Deputy Provincial Secretary, Vusi Shongwe as Treasurer and Busi Shiba as Deputy Provincial Chairperson.[56] On the other hand, Ntshalintshali was leading her own lobby camp, a strong one comparatively, that wanted acting Provincial Chairperson Mandla Ndlovu as Mabuza's successor in Mpumalanga, Gert Sibande District Municipality mayor Muzi Chirwa as Provincial Secretary, deputised by Ntshalintshali, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Mandla Msibi as Provincial Treasurer and Nkangala ANC chairman Speedy Mashilo becomes Deputy Provincial chairperson when a congress is held.[57] Mtshweni-Tsipane was handpicked by Mabuza to succeed him as Premier of Mpumalanga when President Cyril Ramaphosa made him the deputy president in February 2018.[58][59]

The date of the 13th Mpumalanga ANC congress was suspended when the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) began infecting people worldwide at an alarming rate, forcing national secretary Ace Magashule to suspend all ANC gatherings,[60][61] and a national lockdown imposed by Ramaphosa.[62][63]

In August 2019, Ntshalintshali asked for extra bodyguards to be added around her as tensions between her, Mtsweni-Tsipane and those aligned to Mtsweni-Tsipane, like Ngrayi Ngwenya, who is Tsipane and Mabuza's close ally, continued to boil over.[64] She was accused by Mtsweni-Tsipane supporters of turning the Mpumalanga ANC into a "Ntshalintshali Pty Ltd", but Ntshalintshali's supporters, like former PEC member Peter Nyoni, slammed her critics, saying they were derailing her from doing ANC work because they wanted "the ANC to serve their interest at all costs".[65]

References
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