Women on the Move: Meet FS Premier Sisi Ntombela

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The world is run by WOMEN. Strong, brave, courageous, witty, kick-ass women. The City of Roses boasts some of the toughest, most compassionate and most inspiring female leaders you’ll ever come across. This month, Get It celebrates these leaders and their superpowers. Because, let’s face it, we’re not just businesswomen. We are mothers, daughters, caretakers, wives, cooks, cleaners, teachers and motivators. We are invested in our communities, and care for those who need a mother’s love. We look at the future while tending to the present with grace and attention to detail. We do it all, with added vava-VOOM for those extra curve balls life throws at us.

In this year’s Get It Women on the Move feature, Vodacom is at the forefront, celebrating this team of strong women with us. Visit www.vodacom.co.za for details on all it has on offer.

Meet FS Premier, Sisi Ntombela

Sefore Hixsonia Ntombela advocates for cases that truly matter because she knows the
depth of struggle for thousands of people in the Free State. She was elected Premier of the Free State on March 27, 2018.

Sisi was born as one of six children in the small farming town of Tweeling in the Free State. She was given the nickname of “Sisi” at a young age. She attended the Tweeling Combined School and matriculated from Kganyeng Secondary School. She went on to study at Bonamelo Training College in Qwaqwa and returned to the Tweeling Combined School as a
teacher.

After a five-year period of teaching, she joined the Department of Health where she served as a health worker for 12 years. Sisi then joined the then Department of Welfare as a Community Developer for a period of four years. Her brief but impactful spell at the
Department of Welfare stimulated a deep sense of compassion in the Premier, in those early years indeed an indication that she was a person occupied with the advancement of
human potential and the alleviation of the plight of the weak and marginalised. “It is during this time that I interacted, almost daily, with the masses of our people. I found a new appreciation for their struggles – be it illness, poverty or unemployment,” reflects the Premier.

Having had first-hand experience of the suffering of the people, she became an active participant in a number of projects designed to improve the lives of the people. She also led a number of initiatives which aimed at the upliftment of the community of Mafahlaneng, Tweeling. Her selfless efforts did not go unnoticed and it came as no surprise that the
African National Congress deployed her to serve in various capacities of public leadership:

Government:
• 1993 – 1999: Mayor of Tweeling Transitional Council
• 1998 – 1999: District Council Representative – Fezile Dabi Region/Northern Free State
• 2001 – 2002: Member of Free State Provincial Legislature (MPL) and Chief Whip
• 2002 – 2007: Member of Parliament in the National Assembly, in which she served in the Portfolio Committees (Local Government, Housing, Labour and Home Affairs)
• 2008 – 2009: Deputy Speaker of Free State Provincial Legislature
• 2009 – Current: Member of the Free State Executive Council Party Political Leadership:
• 1994 – 1996: Chairperson of Mafahlaneng Branch – ANC Women’s League
• 1995 – 1997: Chairperson of ANC Women’s League – Frankfort Region
• 1998 – 2000: Fezile Dabi Regional Chairperson – ANC Women’s League
• 2000 – 2003: Fezile Dabi Regional Chairperson – ANC Women’s League
• 2003 – 2008: ANC WL Provincial Chairperson – Free State
• 2008 – 2011: ANC WL Provincial Chairperson – Free State
• 2012 – Current: Member of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC)
• 2015 – Current: Member of the ANC National Working Committee (NWC)
• 2011 – 2015: ANC WL Provincial Chairperson – Free State
• 2015 – Current: ANC WL Deputy President – National

www.freestateonline.fs.gov.za

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