Sisisi Tolashe

On 5 September 2016, Tolashe was sworn in to an ANC seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament. She replaced Raesibe Nyalungu, who died.[13] She was a member of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies and an alternate member of the Portfolio Committees on Labour and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.[14] Concurrently, she continued to serve in the ANC National Executive Committee – and apparently remained a supporter of ANC President Jacob Zuma[15] – until the party's 54th National Conference in December 2017, at which she failed to gain re-election.[16]

Tolashe's term in the National Assembly lasted less than two years: she resigned on 25 February 2018,[13] ceding her seat to Daniel Jabu Kabini.[17]

Tolashe left Parliament to accept election as Executive Mayor of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, her hometown in the Eastern Cape.[4] She was elected on 26 February, replacing the embattled Lindiwe Gunuza-Nkwentsha as part of an ANC campaign to stabilise mismanaged municipalities.[18][19]

Her tenure in the mayoral office was brief. In the 2019 general election, she was nominated to return to the National Assembly, ranked 11th on the ANC's regional party list for the Eastern Cape constituency.[14][20] After the election, Sibusiso Mvana succeeded her as mayor.[21]

Upon her return to Parliament, Tolashe was appointed as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.[14] In addition, on 24 June 2020, she was elected unopposed to chair the ad hoc parliamentary committee tasked with finding a successor to Kimi Makwetu, the Auditor-General of South Africa.[22] The committee concluded its work in October, unanimously recommending Tsakani Maluleke for the position.[23] In 2021, Tolashe was appointed as a member of another ad hoc committee, the Committee for Section 194 Enquiry into the Public Protector.[24]

In May 2022, Tolashe was elected to the 30-member Provincial Executive Committee of the Eastern Cape branch of the ANC.[25] In December, the ANC's 55th National Conference elected her to return to the National Executive Committee; she was elected narrowly, ranked 77th of 80 members with 973 votes from the 4,400 delegates.[26] At the conference, she reportedly supported Cyril Ramaphosa's bid for re-election as ANC President; she was linked politically to Oscar Mabuyane and his allies in the Eastern Cape, a group sometimes nicknamed the Chris Hani Cabal.[27][25]

On 6 March 2023, President Ramaphosa announced a cabinet reshuffle in which Tolashe was appointed as Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. She deputised Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was also newly appointed to the portfolio.[28][29]

In July 2023, the ANCWL held its first elective conference since the 2015 meeting at which Tolashe had been voted out of the leadership. Tolashe was viewed as a frontrunner for election to the league's presidency,[30] running with the support of Ramaphosa and his allies, including Pemmy Majodina and Angie Motshekga.[31][32] Her slate of running mates included Lungi Gcabashe, Nokuthula Nqaba, and, until her death, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.[31] She stood against Bathabile Dlamini, the outgoing ANCWL President, and Thembeka Mchunu ultimately emerged as another pro-Ramaphosa candidate.[27][33]

At the conference held from 21 to 23 July 2023, Tolashe had the most branch nominations for the president position; she had received 1,564 nominations while her competitors Mchunu and Dlamini received 796 and 258 nominations respectively.[34] On the final day of the conference, Tolashe was announced as the league's new president, having received 1,729 votes while Mchunu and Dlamini got 1,038 and 170 votes respectively.[35]