Sue van der Merwe

Susan Comber van der Merwe (née Young; born 29 May 1954) is a South African politician who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2004 to November 2010. Before that, she was parliamentary counsellor to President Thabo Mbeki from January 2001 to April 2004. Formerly a Black Sash activist in the Cape Province, she represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from January 1996 until her resignation in October 2013.

Sue van der Merwe
Member of the National Assembly
In office
15 January 1996 – 16 October 2013
Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
In office
11 May 2009 – 1 November 2010
Serving with Ebrahim Ebrahim
PresidentJacob Zuma
MinisterMaite Nkoana-Mashabane
Succeeded byMarius Fransman
In office
29 April 2004 – 10 May 2009
(as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs)
Serving with Aziz Pahad
President
MinisterNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
Personal details
Born
Susan Comber Young

(1954-05-29) 29 May 1954
Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouse
Tiaan van der Merwe
​
(died 1991)​
Alma materUniversity of Cape Town

Early life and career

Van der Merwe was born on 29 May 1954[1] in present-day Eastern Cape[2] and grew up in Port Elizabeth.[3] Her mother, Betty-Ann Young, met her father, a South African cleric, while posted to South Africa as a diplomat.[3] Van der Merwe matriculated at Collegiate High School in Port Elizabeth in 1971 and, after a year-long American Field Service cultural exchange,[4] completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Cape Town in 1976.[1]

During apartheid, she volunteered for the Progressive Federal Party, a white opposition party, and for Black Sash; she was coordinator of Black Sash's Cape Town advice office from 1988 to 1991.[1][3][5] From 1991 to 1993, she participated in the Mont Fleur scenario planning exercise ahead of South Africa's democratic transition,[2][6] and from 1993 to 1995 she was an executive assistant at the Open Society Foundation, where she worked in the community radio section.[1][5] She also sat on the board of directors of UMAC, a non-profit in the Cape Province, from 1992 to 2002.[1]

Parliament: 1996–2013

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, van der Merwe stood as a candidate on the ANC's party list but was ranked 144th and did not expect to be elected.[5] However, she joined the National Assembly on 15 January 1996, filling a casual vacancy in the ANC caucus,[1][7] and remained in her seat until 16 October 2013. She was a backbencher until January 2001, when President Thabo Mbeki announced his first cabinet reshuffle and appointed van der Merwe as his parliamentary counsellor; she succeeded Charles Nqakula, who had been named as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.[8] Later that year, the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) appointed her to a newly formed "political committee" in the ANC parliamentary caucus, chaired by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.[9]

Deputy Minister: 2004–2010

She remained in office as parliamentary counsellor until after the 2004 general election, when Mbeki appointed her to a newly created post as second Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; she served under Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and alongside the long-serving first deputy minister, Aziz Pahad.[10][11] She was succeeded as parliamentary counsellor by Manne Dipico.[10] Although commentator and former MP David Dalling said that van der Merwe was "publicly invisible" in her government office,[12] she was elected as a member of the ANC NEC at the party's 52nd National Conference in December 2007; by number of votes received, she was ranked 54th among the 80 candidates elected.[13][14]

After the next general election in 2009, newly elected President Jacob Zuma retained van der Merwe in the newly renamed post of Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.[15] However, in a reshuffle on 1 November 2010, she was fired and replaced by Marius Fransman. News24 reported that she had asked to be relieved of her position,[16] while the Mail & Guardian said that she had not known that she would be removed until she heard Zuma's announcement.[17]

Return to the backbenches: 2010–2013

Van der Merwe continued to serve as an ordinary MP, and in December 2012 she was narrowly re-elected to a second five-year term on the ANC NEC, ranked 76th of the 80 elected members.[18][19] She resigned from her seat with effect from 16 October 2013.[20] Minister Trevor Manuel, a friend of van der Merwe's since the Mont Fleur exercise, delivered a farewell address in Parliament, describing her work as "characterised by her love for politics and a clear sense of honour".[7]

Later career

Upon resigning from Parliament, van der Merwe said that she intended to spend more time on non-profit work but would remain an active member of the ANC and would participate in its 2014 election campaign.[21] At that time, she was already a non-executive director at Sibanye Gold, a mining company,[21] and in February 2020 she was appointed as an independent non-executive director at Sibanye-Stillwater.[22] She also joined the national council of the South African Institute of International Affairs in 2014.[22][23]

She served the remainder of her five-year term as a member of the ANC NEC, which ended in December 2017. In February 2016, the NEC deployed van der Merwe and Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba as interim caretakers of the ANC's Western Cape branch after the incumbent provincial chairperson, Marius Fransman, was removed from office.[24] In May 2017, she was one of 18 NEC members who supported a motion, tabled by Joel Netshitenzhe, proposing that Zuma should step down as ANC president.[25]

Personal life

Van der Merwe was married to Tiaan van der Merwe, whom she met at the University of Cape Town; he was a prominent opposition politician in the apartheid-era House of Assembly before he died in a car accident in 1991. They had two children.[3][5]

In April 2013, van der Merwe was injured in a robbery at her home in Rondebosch, Cape Town.[26][27]

References
  1. "Susan Van der Merwe, Ms". South African Government. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  2. "Public sector: Ministers". The Mail & Guardian. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  3. "Sue may be new but she's a fast learner". IOL. 5 September 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  4. "Ministers". The Mail & Guardian. 1 December 2005. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. "Sue's meteoric rise surprises even her". IOL. 29 April 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2004.
  6. "Between an ostrich and a flamingo". The Mail & Guardian. 11 April 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  7. "Trevor Manuel's farewell speech for Sue van der Merwe". Politicsweb. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  8. "Mbeki goes easy on the pruning shears". The Mail & Guardian. 25 January 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  9. "New parly committee for ANC". News24. 5 August 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  10. "Second in command". The Mail & Guardian. 30 April 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  11. "NNP, Azapo leaders in new cabinet". The Mail & Guardian. 28 April 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  12. Dalling, David (6 February 2008). "Better things to do". Witness. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  13. "52nd National Conference: National Executive Committee as elected". African National Congress. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  14. "Shake-up in ANC national executive". The Mail & Guardian. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  15. "Statement by President Jacob Zuma on the appointment of the new Cabinet". South African Government. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  16. "Deputy minister moved out of post". News24. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  17. "Zuma keeps friends close, some enemies closer". The Mail & Guardian. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  18. "ANC National Executive Committee Members". African National Congress. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  19. "Pro-Zuma NEC announced at Mangaung". The Mail & Guardian. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  20. "Members of the National Assembly". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  21. Davis, Gaye (16 October 2013). "Former MP remains committed to ANC". EWN. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  22. "Susan Comber van der Merwe". Sibanye-Stillwater. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  23. "Governance and Office Bearers". SAIIA. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  24. "Western Cape ANC needs clear heir to Fransman – analyst". News24. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  25. "Zuma survives: The 18 NEC members who spoke out". The Mail & Guardian. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  26. "ANC MP recovering after attack". News24. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  27. "Top ANC MP in brutal home attack". News24. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
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