Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Biography: Age, Net Worth, Qualifications, Family, Salary, Net Worth & Previous Offices

Biography

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is a South African politician, legislator, military veteran, and anti-apartheid activist currently serving as the Speaker of the National Assembly as of 19 August 2021. From June 2012 to August 2021, she previously held the office of Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. She also served as the Minister of Home Affairs from 2004 to 2009 and the Minister of Correctional Services from 2009 to 2012.

Age

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was born in Cape Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa, on November 13, 1956. She celebrated her 66th birthday on 13 November 2022.

Net Worth

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has served in the political scene for many years and headed many offices. She has also earned a good salary throughout these years of service. Several media outlets estimate her net worth to be between $500,000 to $5 million. This remains an unconfirmed estimate. Neither Nosiviwe nor anyone on her team has confirmed it.

Qualifications

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula matriculated from Mount Arthur High School. She holds a Primary Teacher’s Diploma from the Bensonvale Teacher TRG College and a Project Management with Canadian University Studies (CUSO). She did a Basic Human Relations Course, Community Development course, and Communications course. Nosiviwe also trained in Youth Leadership and is currently studying Psychology at Newport University.

Family

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is happily married to Charles Nqakula, born on 13 September 1942. Nqakula is a South African politician who served as Minister of Defence from September 2008 to 2009. He also served as Minister for Safety and Security from May 2002 to September 2008. On 24 June 2012, he was appointed High Commissioner to the Republic of Mozambique by President Jacob Zuma. He still serves the post.

Nosiviwe and Charles had a son named Chumani Nqakula. In October 2015, he was murdered by a close friend named Carlos Higuera. He was reported to be in his 20s when he died. Further reports revealed that Chumani and Carlos had fought over a house in Bezuidenhout Valley which led Carlos to stab him multiple times in a rage.

Salary

In August 2021, the media reported that Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was getting a salary promotion despite being removed as a cabinet member. At the time, she was nominated by the ANC Parliamentary to be the new speaker of the National Assembly. She began receiving a salary of R2.8 million (R2 825 470) per year. As a minister, she had previously earned R2.4 million (R2 401 633) per year, less than the new salary. She began earning a higher salary despite being demoted to a lower office than she previously held.

Previous Offices

Nosiviwe served as the head of a commission that was set up by the ANC to investigate desertions of ANC Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Angola. She worked with political-military structures within the ANC for several years and was deployed to help rebuild ANC structures.

She became the Secretary-General of the ANC Women’s League in 1993. She also held the position of Deputy-Minister of Home Affairs before being appointed as Minister.

In August 2021, Ramaphosa reshuffled his cabinet, in which he removed Mapisa-Nqakula as Minister, saying she “will be redeployed to a new position.” She was elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly, swapping positions with former speaker Thandi Modise. She was nominated for another term on the ANC NEC ahead of the party’s 55th National Conference in December 2022.  She did not receive enough votes to be re-elected.