Celiwe Madlopha

{{Short description|South African politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature

| party = African National Congress

| citizenship = South Africa

| termstart = 22 May 2019

| honorific_suffix = MPL

| office1 = Member of the National Assembly

| termstart1 = 17 November 2010

| constituency1 = KwaZulu-Natal

| termend1 = 7 May 2019

| otherparty = South African Communist Party

}}

Celiwe Qhamkile Madlopha is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature since 2019. Before that, she was a Member of the National Assembly between 2010 and 2019. She is also a former Provincial Chairperson of the ANC Women's League in KwaZulu-Natal.

Political career

Madlopha was active in the Congress of South African Students in her youth in the 1980s.{{Cite web |date=2018-10-01 |title=Dr Celiwe Madlopha (ANC) |url=https://pa.org.za/blog/dr-celiwe-madlopha |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=People's Assembly |language=en}} She was formerly the Deputy Mayor of Umhlathuze Local Municipality{{Cite web |last=Jenkins |first=Chris |date=8 November 2006 |title=Mbatha re-elected as uMhlathuze's speaker |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mbatha-re-elected-as-umhlathuzes-speaker-302162 |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=IOL |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Naidoo |first=Nalini |date=2012-03-25 |title=ANCWL: Tension at elective conference |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/archive/ancwl-tension-at-elective-conference-20150430/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=Witness |language=en}} and she was sworn in to an ANC seat in the National Assembly in November 2010.{{Cite web |title=Celiwe Qhamkile Madlopha |url=http://www.pa.org.za/person/celiwe-qhamkile-madlopha/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=People's Assembly |language=en}} In March 2012, she was elected Provincial Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the ANC Women's League in a fierce contest with the outgoing chairperson, Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe; Nonhlanhla Khoza was elected alongside her as Provincial Secretary.

She was re-elected to her first full term in Parliament in the 2014 general election, ranked third on the ANC's regional party list for KwaZulu-Natal. However, she left her ANC Women's League office in September 2017, when Khoza was elected to succeed her.{{Cite web |date=4 September 2017 |title=KZN ANCWL elects new leadership |url=https://www.ecr.co.za/news/news/kzn-ancwl-elects-new-leadership/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=ECR}}

In the 2019 general election, Madlopha did not stand for re-election to the national Parliament, but instead was elected to a seat in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature, ranked 39th on the ANC's provincial party list. She remained active in the ANC – her local regional branch was the Musa Dladla branch in King Cetshwayo District{{Cite news |date=29 July 2022 |title=Local ANC branch supports leadership |work=Zululand Observer |url=https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/zululand-observer/20220729/281565179507934 |access-date=26 January 2023 |via=PressReader}} – and in July 2022 she was elected to a four-year term on the Provincial Executive Committee of the party's KwaZulu-Natal branch.{{Cite web |last= |date=25 July 2022 |title=Ex-chair Sihle Zikalala fails to make it into ANC KZN provincial executive committee |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-07-25-ex-chair-sihle-zikalala-fails-to-make-it-into-anc-kzn-provincial-executive-committee/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}} In addition, she was elected to three consecutive five-year terms as a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party, in 2012,{{Cite web |title=Previous Central Committee Members |url=https://sacp.org.za/content/previous-central-committee-members |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=South African Communist Party}} 2017, and 2022.{{Cite web |title=Current Central Committee |url=https://sacp.org.za/content/current-central-committee |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=South African Communist Party}}

Personal life

She was married to Bonginkosi Elphas Madlopha, a Christian minister and a local leader in the ANC and the South African National Civic Organisation.{{Cite web |date=2014-02-19 |title=Condolences pour in for ANC stalwart |url=https://zululandobserver.co.za/24596/condolences-pouring-in-for-anc-stalwart-madlopha/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=Zululand Observer |language=en-US}} He died in February 2014 shortly after he and his wife arrived in Cape Town for the 2014 State of the Nation Address.

References

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