Ellen Molekane

{{Short description|South African politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Ellen Molekane | native_name =  | native_name_lang =  | image_upright = | image =  | alt = | caption = | order = | office = Deputy Minister of State Security | status =  | term_start = 26 May 2014 | term_end = 7 May 2019 | alongside =  | monarch = | president = Cyril Ramaphosa<br />Jacob Zuma | governor_general = | taoiseach = | chancellor = | governor = | chair = | deputy = | lieutenant = | vicechair = | succeeding =  | constituency = | majority = | predecessor = | successor = Zizi Kodwa | prior_term = | order2 =  | office2 =  | term_start2 =  | alongside2 =  | monarch2 =  | president2 =  | governor_general2 =  | prime_minister2 =  | chancellor2 =  | taoiseach2 =  | governor2 =  | chair2 =  | vice_president2 =  | vice_prime_minister2 =  | deputy2 =  | lieutenant2 =  | vicechair2 =  | succeeding2 =  | predecessor2 =  | successor2 =  | parliamentary_group2 =  | constituency2 =  | majority2 =  | prior_term2 =  | minister = Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba<br />Bongani Bongo<br />David Mahlobo | term_end1 = 7 May 2019 | term_start1 = 30 July 2018 | office1 = Member of the National Assembly | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|08|2|df=yes}} | birth_place = Soweto, South Africa | birth_name = Ellen Nnana Ntsitse Molekane | relations = Rapu Molekane (brother) | party = African National Congress | education = Morris Isaacson High School }}

'''Ellen Nnana Ntsitse Molekane''' (born 2 August 1953) was South Africa's Deputy Minister of State Security between May 2014 and May 2019. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), she was a civil servant in the Department of Defence until President Jacob Zuma appointed her to the national executive. She was also briefly a member of the National Assembly from July 2018 to May 2019.

== Early life and education == Molekane was born on 2 August 1953 in Soweto.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2016-03-27 |title=Profiles: Deputy Minister of State Security |url=http://www.ssa.gov.za/AboutUs/Profiles/DeputyMinisterofStateSecurity.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327200657/http://www.ssa.gov.za/AboutUs/Profiles/DeputyMinisterofStateSecurity.aspx |archive-date=2016-03-27 |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=State Security Agency}}</ref> The second of seven siblings, she matriculated at the Morris Isaacson High School, where she joined the South African Students' Movement.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Parks |first=Michael |date=1994-04-19 |title=Forging A Nation: A Tale of Six Families: The Struggle Against Apartheid |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-19-wr-47844-story.html |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Her early political involvements partly inspired the anti-apartheid activism of her younger brother, Rapu Molekane.<ref name=":2" />

== Military career == After matriculating, Molekane worked briefly at Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg as a clerk and student nurse;<ref name=":1" /> she intended to work as a nurse or accountant.<ref name=":2" /> However, in 1977, she left South Africa to join the anti-apartheid African National Congress (ANC) in exile.<ref name=":1" /> Over the next 15 years, she was a full-time ANC operative, spending time in Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia; in Zambia in the 1980s, she was director of the ANC's religious desk and the treasurer of its Politico-Military Council.<ref name=":1" /> As a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, she received military training in the German Democratic Republic, specialising in military engineering.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |date=August 2013 |title=Profiling Women Military Veterans: Ms Ellen Molekane |url=http://www.dmv.gov.za/documents/July%202013.pdf |journal=Honour |publisher=Department of Military Veterans |volume=2 |pages=12–13}}</ref>

In 1991, amid the negotiations to end apartheid, Molekane returned to South Africa to work at ANC headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg.<ref name=":1" /> After the end of apartheid in 1994, she was among the former MK operatives who were integrated into the new South African National Defence Force. Entering at the rank of lieutenant colonel, she worked in the public service for the next 20 years, predominantly at the Department of Defence, where she rose through the ranks to become a Deputy Director-General.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> Between 2002 and 2012, she was stationed in the ministerial office of Lindiwe Sisulu, following Sisulu from the Ministry of Intelligence to the Ministry of Housing and finally to the Ministry of Defence.<ref name=":1" />

During the same period, she remained active in the ANC. At the ANC's 52nd National Conference in December 2007, she stood unsuccessfully for election to the party's National Executive Committee.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-12-06 |title=ANC releases consolidated nominations list |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2007-12-06-anc-releases-consolidated-nominations-list/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Shortly thereafter she joined the committee by co-option.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |date=2012 |title=Organisational Report to the 53rd National Conference |url=https://new.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Organisational-Report-2012.pdf |access-date=2021-12-04 |website=African National Congress |archive-date=4 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204173408/https://new.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Organisational-Report-2012.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Deputy Minister of State Security: 2014–2019 == On 25 May 2014, shortly after that month's general election, President Jacob Zuma announced Molekane's appointment as Deputy Minister of State Security.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=25 May 2014 |title=President Jacob Zuma announces members of the National Executive |url=https://www.gcis.gov.za/content/newsroom/media-releases/media-statements/cabinet_25may2014 |access-date=2 July 2024 |website=Government Communication and Information System}}</ref> She remained in that office throughout the term of the Fifth Parliament.<ref name=":0" /> The ''Daily Maverick'' said in 2018 that she was "almost imperceptible" to the public.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marais |first=Nel |date=2018-02-04 |title=Ramaphosa will need to tackle the State Security Agency |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2018-02-05-ramaphosa-will-need-to-tackle-the-state-security-agency/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}</ref>

Initially appointed from outside Parliament, Molekane was sworn in to the National Assembly on 30 July 2018,<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=13 November 2018 |title=Fifth Parliament: List of Members |url=https://static.pmg.org.za/181113_NA_MEMBERS_ALPHABETIC.pdf |access-date=10 June 2018 |website=Parliamentary Monitoring Group}}</ref> filling the casual vacancy that was created by Fikile Mbalula's resignation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 August 2018 |title=ANC's new MPs sworn in |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/ancs-new-mps-sworn-in-20180814 |access-date=2 July 2024 |work=News24}}</ref> She did not stand for re-election in the 2019 general election.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellen Molekane, Ms |url=https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/former-government-leaders/ellen-molekane-ms |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=South African Government}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellen Molekane |url=http://www.pa.org.za/person/ellen-nnana-ntsitse-molekane/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=People's Assembly |language=en}}</ref>

== Publications == {{Cite journal |last=Molekane |first=Ellen |date=1996 |title=The Role of Women in the South African National Defence Force |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10246029.1996.9627822 |journal=African Security Review |language=en |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=23–26 |doi=10.1080/10246029.1996.9627822 |issn=1024-6029|url-access=subscription }}

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links ==

* {{People's Assembly (South Africa)|id=ellen-nnana-ntsitse-molekane|name=Ellen Molekane}}<br />{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molekane, Ellen}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:People from Soweto Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2014–2019 Category:Military personnel from Johannesburg Category:Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Category:21st-century South African women politicians Category:UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel