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Thoko Didiza | |
|---|---|
 Didiza in 2019 | |
| 8th Speaker of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 14 June 2024 | |
| Deputy | Annelie Lotriet |
| Preceded by | Lechesa Tsenoli (acting) Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula |
| Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development | |
| In office 30 May 2019 – 14 June 2024 | |
| President | Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Portfolio established |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 21 May 2014 | |
| In office 9 May 1994 – 26 September 2008 | |
| Minister of Public Works | |
| In office 22 May 2006 – 25 September 2008 | |
| President | Thabo Mbeki |
| Deputy | Ntopile Kganyago |
| Preceded by | Stella Sigcau |
| Succeeded by | Geoff Doidge |
| Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs | |
| In office 17 June 1999 – 22 May 2006 | |
| President | Thabo Mbeki |
| Deputy | Dirk du Toit |
| Preceded by | Derek Hanekom |
| Succeeded by | Lulama Xingwana |
| Deputy Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office May 1994 – June 1999 | |
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| Minister | Kraai van Niekerk Derek Hanekom |
| Succeeded by | Dirk du Toit |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Angela Thokozile Msane 2 June 1965 Durban, Natal Province South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Spouse |
Tami Didiza (m. 1995) |
| Education | Ohlange School |
| Alma mater | University of South Africa University of Melbourne |
Angela Thokozile Didiza (née Msane; born 2 June 1965) is a South African politician serving as Speaker of the National Assembly since 14 June 2024. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she was formerly the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development between May 2019 and June 2024. She served an earlier stint in the cabinet between 1999 and 2008.
Didiza entered politics through anti-apartheid activism, initially in Christian organisations and women's groups. She was the inaugural secretary-general of the Women's National Coalition from 1992 to 1994. She was elected to the first post-apartheid Parliament as a nominee of the ANC Youth League in 1994, and she joined Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity as Deputy Minister of Agriculture from 1994 to 1999. A political ally of Mandela's successor, President Thabo Mbeki, she subsequently became a rising star in Mbeki's cabinet, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs from June 1999 to May 2006 and Minister of Public Works from May 2006 to September 2008.
She was among the several ministers who resigned in the aftermath of Mbeki's recall by the ANC in September 2008. After a hiatus from frontline politics between 2008 and 2014, Didiza returned to Parliament in 2014 as a house chairperson in the National Assembly, a position she held throughout the fifth democratic Parliament. During that period, she stood unsuccessfully as the ANC's candidate for election as Mayor of Tshwane in the 2016 municipal elections; her nomination led to several days of riots by ANC supporters in the city.
She returned to the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development after the 2019 general election, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. After the next general election in 2024, she was elected as Speaker of the National Assembly.
Didiza was first elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in 1997. She was a member of the committee from 1997 to 2007 and from 2012 to the present. Her absence from the committee between 2007 and 2012 followed the ANC's Polokwane conference, at which she launched an abortive bid to become ANC deputy secretary-general on a slate of candidates aligned to Mbeki.