Women on the Move: Meet the Speaker of the FS Legislature, Ntombizanele Sifuba

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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 the Speaker of the FS Legislature, Ntombizanele Beauty Sifuba

Ntombizanele is a teacher, mother, activist and adventure seeker. But above all, she is an activist. As the newly, unopposed elected Speaker of the Free State Legislature, Ntombizanele is a lover of education and stands firm for what she believes in. She is among many vibrant female legislators in our province, to which we say YES!

The Member of the Executive Council for Police, Roads and Transport, Sam Mashinini, remarked to the media shortly after Ntombizanele’s election: “She is calm, immersed and easy going, but make no mistake, she is very firm.”

Ntombizanele is a product of the working class movement and has been active within the education sector within the province. Between 1999 and 2019, she enjoyed her job as a teacher in various schools such as Letjhabile Adult School, Letsete Secondary School and
Bambanani ABET Centre. It is during this period that she was able to, in a consummate style, manage to silently craft an immeasurable political growth within the South African
Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in the Free State. As a representative and shop steward of the SADTU, she is credited with helping to maintain labour peace in our schools. This attribute is very important to the education sector because it ensures that the culture of learning and teaching is maintained at all times. Recently she worked as Deputy Director responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation in the Department of Social Development, which
further wired her understanding of government operations. She has also held many political roles in the past and in 1995 she has already served as the Deputy Secretary of the ANC
in the President Steyn Branch in Welkom.

She later served as a Branch Chairperson, Member of the Provincial Executive Committee,
Provincial Treasurer, Provincial Deputy Secretary of SADTU, Provincial Deputy Chairperson of COSATU, and a Member of the Provincial Executive. She is currently also serving as
member of the ANC Subcommittees on Economic Development as well as Gender and Equity.

True to her industrious and resourceful nature of immersed expertise, she is also the Chairperson of the Free State Safety and Security Sector Bargaining Chamber (FSSSSBC).
In a nutshell, one can be allowed to say that Ntombizanele’s election as the Speaker of the
Legislature is just what the doctor ordered, and came at exactly the right time. Public institutions such as the Free State Legislature require sound and thought leadership and from the paper, the new Speaker cannot be faltered.

Ntombizanele’s adoration for education is self-expressed in her insistent drive to pursue one qualification after another. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Vista University (1998), Bachelor of Psychology from Central University of Technology (2009), Postgraduate Diploma (2017) in Governance and Political Transformation and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in the same field from the University of Free State.

She is a disciplinarian who has developed disciplinary codes and overseen disciplinary proceedings. She is well-rounded, passionate about labour matters and an outstanding negotiator. These attributes go a long way in building a solid relationship between the Executive Authority, the Management and the Workers’ Union in the Legislature.

Her predecessor, Mamiki Qabathe, recently delivered a warm account of Ntombizanele: “A dedicated worker, leader, shop steward and a passionate educator. A leader of the ANC who
has given everything to help resolve the challenges faced by our structures.”

When Ntombizanele is at home, she loves being a mother to her three beautiful daughters. Her eldest daughter, Sisipho Ngwenyana, says: “My mom would always give to people even when we had almost nothing to give”. That account alone surmised a spiritual forte and
luminaire associated with mothers in African societies. She is a very strong advocate for violence against women and children and fights for the rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual,
Transgender, Questioning and Intersex (LGBTIQ) communities. This kind of courage is commensurate to the direction our country is now taking towards renewal and growth. It gives the legislature an even better and empathetic atmosphere towards serving its people with humility.

The Secretary to the Legislature, Thabo Mofokeng, added his remarks: “We are looking forward to working with the new Speaker; we are ready and will hit the ground running. From our recent interface, I am happy about how the Speaker managed to transmit the
amount of issues we’ve already placed before her.”

During the Get It Women on the Move Breakfast held in June this year, Ntombizanele delivered a speech in which she encouraged women in the Free State to support one another. “If we as women uplift each other more, we can make tremendous progress as a whole in the province. I believe we as women have what it takes to turn a society around. We are excellent multitaskers. We’re not just mothers or wives, we can fill many roles in a single day.”

The Free State Legislature and its entire staff welcomes Hon. Sifuba and her team of legislators and wish them all the best.

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