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Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka talks about the challenges of the post and reveals herself as a formidable woman with a cool head and fierce focus on long-term goals.
There are some things that come with being deputy president of South Africa that Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka would rather not have to do. Take, for example, the night-time game-viewing drive on the back of a bakkie in the Kruger National Park after a meeting of the President’s Business Advisory Council. “If I got mauled,” she asked a former aide, “what would I tell my mother in KwaZulu-Natal? That Phumzile got attacked searching for lions in the middle of the night!”There are enough lions in politics, reasons South Africa’s pragmatic second-in-command, without having to go out to the Kruger Park to look for more!
When President Thabo Mbeki appointed her to be his deputy in June 2005 following the dismissal of the previous deputy president Jacob Zuma, Mlambo-Ngcuka stepped into the inner den of South African politics. Conspiracy theories hung heavily in the air, with some alleging that this formed part of a game plan that began with Mlambo-Ngcuka’s husband Bulelani Ngcuka, then director of the National Prosecuting Authority, investigating a case of corruption that eventually led to Zuma being charged.
The truth, as time has revealed, is probably much simpler than what the pundits would have us believe. Mbeki has staked his last term on delivery. The African Renaissance president has also made it clear that advancing the rights of women is one of the legacies he wants to leave behind. Whatever her ‘baggage’ (the term Mlambo-Ngcuka uses with a laugh to describe herself), the former Minister of Minerals and Energy fitted the bill rather well.
“Yes, it was a gamble,” reflects one analyst. “But other than needing someone with the best track record of delivery in government, Mbeki knew that she is a level-headed person, someone who would stay cool, remain above the fray, and keep her eye on the ball. She has ridden the storm.”
Her homely and easy-going style, her good relations with a broad cross-section of South African society, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions, big business, youth and women’s groups as well as developing a politically neutral image, are fast winning the most powerful woman in South Africa respect and admiration.
Sure, there have been painful moments, such as being booed by Zuma supporters at recent rallies. “Obviously these are the kinds of things one would prefer not to have to face, but they come with the terrain. They are inconveniences, not the kind of thing that gets me down,” she says. “How many people,” she asks, with her infectious sense of humour, “can add to their CV that they have been booed at rallies? You don’t get that if you are irrelevant, if you are a mere footnote of history.”
So what is it that really gets to her? “The thing that causes me sleepless nights is whether we will be able to deliver on the scale we need to, to be able to do the things we need to in the second economy fast enough. My real nightmare is: will we meet the [6%] growth target that we have set and will we get broad-based buy-in?”
As the person charged by the president with driving ‘shared economic growth’, the main legacy that the former teacher seeks to leave behind is a “paradigm shift, so that we all begin to see that contributing to the development of South Africa makes business sense.” Warning that many in the business sector are “living in glass houses”, she says that if the responsibility to bring about shared growth in this sector is taken lightly, “the kind of benefits that they enjoy in the second economy could be compromised.”
What makes her optimistic, Mlambo-Ngcuka says, is that “there is far more of an opportunity in South Africa to address these issues satisfactorily than in other developing countries. We are not a highly indebted country. We are an emerging country that has growth and financial stability that is the envy of many other countries. We have a comprehensive understanding of the shortcomings and where they are. Can you imagine if 10 years from now we, as a country, had united to eradicate poverty and address basic needs? I think we have the capacity to do that. We just need to harness the goodwill of all concerned.”
In addition to the tasks that come with her job description, Mlambo-Ngcuka has added voluntarily another one to her portfolio: taking forward the Beijing Platform for Action for the advancement of women. “Because for me it’s not a soft issue. It’s absolutely integral to what we are trying to achieve.”
Those who have worked closely with Mlambo-Ngcuka confirm that she does not regard the empowerment of women as a mere frill. CEO of Mujoli Resources Nonkqubela Mazwai, who worked as a consultant at the Ministry of Minerals and Energy verifying that the requirements of the Mining Charter were being met, recalls how she never compromised on the 10% stake for women. She recalls a case in which a businessman asked the then minister what she expected him to do: bring a busload of women with no skills and experience and add them to his company? Looking back at him with a straight face, but exuding her usual charm, Mlambo-Ngcuka responded, “I am sure we can make a plan.”
Now that she is leader of government business, is there not a danger that her male colleagues will happily hand over all the ‘women’s issues’ to her? “It’s a risk I am willing to take,” she says. “There are things you rebel against because they stereotype you, but you do them anyway because they are too important to leave to chance. It’s like, as a mother, I don’t want to be stereotyped as the one who looks after the babies, but that does not mean I am going to neglect the babies!”
Women’s golf is an example of how gender features in Mlambo-Ngcuka’s vision and strategy. While confessing that she’s going to have to practise putting a few balls before the January Women’s Golf Tournament of which she is president, she says she jumped at the chance because “it will boost tourism and growth, and it is a sport that is reaching out to the historically disadvantaged in South Africa.”
Of course, she adds, women’s golf is also challenging stereotypes about women in sport. “The men don’t know what has hit them – women are playing golf, cricket and even rugby! What I like is that many men are also getting in touch with their more feminine side.”
Balancing of the traditionally feminine skills of care and masculine skills of control is a strong feature of Mlambo-Ngcuka’s management style. Among the terms used by staff and close associates to describe her, are: hard-working, clever, a fast learner, straightforward, results driven, demanding high performance, decisive and not afraid to call people to order. She is also described as caring, genuinely interested in the people around her no matter what their rank, inclusive, a good listener and empowering.
Mazwai remembers how once, when she was “highly pregnant”, Mlambo-Ngcuka woke her up at one in the morning to prepare a briefing paper, then called the next morning to say, “Oh my God, what have I done?” “The thing is,” Mazwai laughs, “I wasn’t even angry. She is the kind of person you just feel like working for; you just want to make it all happen for her.”
“She encourages everyone to be more than what they are employed to do,” adds Nchakha Moloi, chair of Mkhombi Holdings and her special adviser for many years in the minerals and energy ministry.
Take the case of Khetiwe McClain, her former PA in the ministry, who, during a high-level debriefing on diamonds and conflict at the South African embassy in New York, was unexpectedly asked by the then minister, “And what do you think, Khetiwe?” After stumbling through a response, McClain made it her business from then on to do more than just carry the minister’s handbag to meetings. Today, she is an accomplished businesswoman and executive director of an empowerment company with interests in, among others, the property and coal mining businesses.
People skills, Mlambo-Ngcuka says, are crucial in her current job where “it is not so much about implementing, but co-ordinating. What is much more important in my job now is the ability to work with other people and ensure that we have buy-in.”
She confesses though that, perhaps uncharacteristic of what is expected in this job, she likes to spend much time with senior officials, understanding the details of what has to be done. Her non-bureaucratic style has won her many friends among officials, who feel gratified that the documents they spend hours preparing are being read and informing policy.
Some colleagues warn, however – and she herself admits – that one of the things she has to guard against is micro-management. With that comes concern about the dangers to her health of the enormous amount of work that she takes on. Late last year, her husband is said to have hidden away her two cell phones to try to get her to slow down. Her staff has been known to concoct out-of-town meetings that turn out to be holidays – just to get her to rest.
While the deputy president would never admit to being overworked, she does confide that “it would be nice to have a wife”, to help worry about which tablecloth and cutlery to use for the several functions she hosts. Though her husband has been “supportive”, she says, he has been “hell of a confused about what he has to do!”
What can we expect when President Mbeki’s second term comes to an end? The pundits are already working overtime to predict who the next most powerful person in South Africa will be. “Don’t even go there!” Mlambo-Ngcuka warns as the billion-dollar question is put to her. This is not to say, of course, that she will not. The pundits would do well to watch this space. ?
Colleen Lowe
Republished with kind permission of ICON Magazine.
