Ms Thembi Siweya was Deputy Minister in The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa from 30 May 2019 to 6 March 2023. She is also a Member of Parliament.
Ms Thembi Rhulani Siweya is a youth activist and a philanthropist who is very passionate about promoting a culture of reading and writing. She is a graduate of the then Medical University of South Africa (now Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University), where she served as the chairperson of the Student Representative Council Science Faculty and also as Treasurer General of the South African Student Congress. She is currently enrolled for a Master of Business Administration degree. She matriculated at Saint Morgens English Medium School in Mokopane, Limpopo. She was introduced to politics at an early age through student activism.
In 2013, she served in the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) Provincial Task Team Subcommittee on Communications. She has been a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANCYL since 2015 to date.
Ms Siweya has vast experience of working in the communications environment, both as a civil servant and politician. She worked as the Spokesperson for the then National Youth Commission (now National Youth Development Agency) in Limpopo between 2007 and 2010. She was Communications Manager in the Office of the Premier of Limpopo between 2010 and 2016.
She is an avid reader and writer who has written numerous published opinion pieces on a variety of topics, specifically about Africa and the world. She counts the likes of Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head and Mandla Langa among her favourite authors. In 2014, she started African Unmasked, a cognitive movement established to deliberate on current affairs, especially on issues relating to gender, health, education, governance, economics and identity. The initiative encourages dialogue among Africans aimed at facilitating interdependence among African states.
Through African Unmasked, Ms Siweya has donated learning material such as books, school uniforms and shoes to learners in various schools in all provinces of South Africa. She also donated relief parcels to the victims of Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe and Mozambique between April and May 2019.
Source: The Presidency
