Nomaindiya Cathleen Mfeketo

Nomaindiya Mfeketo entered politics through opposition to apartheid, helping families of students detained after the 1976 uprising. Her community work included agricultural training at ZAKH, the Social Change Assistance Trust, and public housing work with the Development Action Group. She also took part in conflict resolution negotiations during South Africa’s transition between 1993 and 1996. ¹

Mfeketo became Cape Town’s first Black woman mayor and later deputy speaker of Parliament. As deputy minister of international relations and cooperation from 2014 to 2018, her responsibilities included Middle Eastern affairs and BRICS. She then served as minister of human settlements in 2018–2019. The University of Cape Town awarded her an honorary doctorate in law in 2000. ¹

She took up the Washington ambassadorship in March 2020. During the pandemic, her public diplomacy included virtual business and cultural events: a Smithsonian and Wines of South Africa seminar in August 2020, support for the South African Chamber of Commerce’s American launch that September, and opening remarks at the inaugural South Africa–USA Black Business Summit on 23 March 2021. ^{1, 2}

She also engaged with pupils at Ida B. Wells Middle School through the embassy's school partnership programme in June 2021. Her planned departure was announced in July 2023. By October, a Chamber of Commerce publication identified Ismail Esau as acting head following her departure. ^{2, 3, 4}