Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri

		Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri 1937 -


Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, South Africa 's Minister of Communications since 1999, was born in Kroonstad in the Free State Province on 18 September 1937 . She did her primary schooling there and completed her secondary school career in Mbabane , KwaZulu Natal. She obtained her B. A. Degree from Fort Hare University and proceeded to teach in KwaZulu Natal for two years. After only two years of teaching and a short stint as an articled clerk in a law firm, Matsepe-Casaburri went into exile. She spent time in Swaziland , Zambia and the United States of America (USA), where she continued her studies. She completed her Ph. D. in Sociology at Rutgers University in New Jersey and went on to teach there. From 1983 to 1989 she filled the positions of Adjunct Professor and Senior Lecturer, after which she left the USA to work in Lusaka , Zambia . Here she worked in the Academic Registrar of the United Nations Institute for Namibia until 1990, when she returned to South Africa . During her exile Matsepe-Casaburri remained politically active in the international branches of the African National Congress (ANC). In New York she filled the position of Branch Executive in the ANC and ANC Women's League, as well as in the ANC Roma and Northmead branches. In 1988 she was appointed as the President of the Association of African Women for Research and Development, which has its headquarters in Dakar , Senegal . On her return to South Africa in 1990 she became Executive Director of the Education Development Trust (EDT), a position she held until 1993. Having served on The ANC's National Education Committee she was actively involved in the education movement. Matsepe-Casaburri also contributed to several policy development areas of South Africa following democracy in 1994, especially economic development, education, gender equality and local government. In 1993 Matsepe-Casaburri was the first woman, and Black person, to be appointed as chairperson of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). She continued to contribute to the efforts around gender equality in South Africa as a founder of the Women's Development Foundation. She led the SABC through a difficult transition period until 1997, when she succeeded Patrick (Terror) Lekota as Premier of the Free State Province . She was the first female Premier in South Africa . From 1993 to 1996 she also served as the first woman on the Board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and has served as a member on the Board of Governors of the International Research Centre in Canada During her long political career she has remained loyal to the ANC and has served on its Free State Provincial Executive Committee, Economic Transformation, and Media and Communications Committees. She is also a member of the organisation's National Executive Committee. Matsepe-Casaburri has been involved in several companies and organizations, breaking ground for women's leadership in many areas. She helped found Women's Development Banking and was also, again, the first woman and Black person to chair the Sentech Ltd. Board. She convened the Research Supervisory Group for the Women's National Coalition and played a role in both the International Women's Anthropology Conference and the International Sociological Association. From 1993 to 1997 she was a Council Member at the University of Durban-Westville. Before her appointment as Minister of Communications in June 1999, a position she currently still holds, Matsepe-Casaburri was a member of the Research and Technology Foresight Board and the Working Group of the National Forum on Science and Technology. She also supports and endorses the Eskom/Sowetan Woman of the Year and Shoprite/Checkers SABC Woman of the Year awards. Click here for an interview with Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. Read Minister of Communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri's, speech at the World Summit in Geneva . Look at Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri's speech at the ICT South Africa Sector Summit and her address on the ICT South Africa Empowerment Charter. Read the Minister's media briefing in Parliament in 2004. Sources: http://www.info.gov.za/gol/gcis_profile.jsp?id=1042 http://www.polity.org.za/html/people/NCABINET/casaburri_im.html http://www.geocities.jp/yeboo2004/sa2004/saon040414.html Joyce, P. (1999). A Concise Dictionary of South African Biography. Cape Town : Francolin. Hayes, S. V. (1996). Who's Who of Southern Africa-Including Mauritius . Who's Who of Southern Africa: Mauritius and Johannesburg .