Pumza Patricia Dyantyi (5 September 19487 December 2020) was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. A member of the African National Congress, Dyantyi was elected to the

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Eastern Cape. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading par ...

in 2014. She served as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health from 2014 to 2018, when she was appointed MEC for Social Development. From 2019 Dyantyi was a member of the

South African National Assembly The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...

Early life and education

Pumza Patricia Dyantyi was born on 5 September 1948 in

Engcobo Ngcobo (formerly Engcobo) is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Ngcobo is the main town of the Engcobo Local Municipality, which falls within the Chris Hani District Municipality of the Eastern Cape. It is situated in the west ...

in South Africa's former Cape Province. In 1965, she obtained a junior certificate. She received a senior certificate in 1968. Dyantyi earned a diploma in general nursing at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg in 1971. In 1972 she received a diploma in midwifery at the McCord Hospital in Durban. While in exile in Cuba, Dyantyi obtained a degree in medicine in 1987. In 2000 she received a diploma in management studies. Dyantyi held a masters in business administration from Buckinghamshire New University.

Career

Anti-apartheid activities

Dyantyi's career in politics started in 1968 when she went to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital to train as a nurse. She was allocated to a ward where Nomazotsho Gqabi was the sister in charge. She became friends with Gqabi, and she introduced Dyantyi to her husband's associates. Dyantyi met a lot of African National Congress activists. She then went to Durban to study midwifery. She was in the same class as Nosidima Pityana, a youth organiser, and they joined the South African Students' Organisation together. Dyanti was first arrested in 1970. In the same trial,

Amos Masondo Nkosiyakhe Amos Masondo (born 21 April 1953 in Louwsburg) is a South African politician, who has served as the Chairperson of South Africa's National Council of Provinces since 23 May 2019. He was the mayor of the city of Johannesburg, South Afr ...

was acquitted. The ANC then told her to leave the country after her following arrest. Dyantyi formally went into exile in 1978 and did her military training in

Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History Por ...

and Quibashe in Angola. She was also stationed in Cuba and attended a medical school there. Dyantyi then went to Zimbabwe and headed the Health Desk of the ANC.

Return to South Africa

She returned to South Africa in 1991 and became a member of the ANC branch in Dutywa. She went on to serve as the mayor of the

Mbhashe Local Municipality The Mbhashe Municipality is a rural outpost of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The Mbhashe Municipality was constituted in terms of the Municipal Structures Act. No. 117 of 1998 (as amended) and comprises the areas that previously formed the ...

. From 2000 to 2010 she was a member of the council of the Walter Sisulu University. Dyantyi served on the board of directors of Mida Private School from 2007 to 2014 and as the chair of the board of directors at the Ntinga Development Agency from 2008 to 2014. Between 2011 and 2014, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the GEMS Medical Scheme, the Board of Directors of Armscor, and the Council of the Nelson Mandela Museum. Dyantyi was also a member of the following ANC structures: the provincial executive committee, the Veterans' League, the

Women's League A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

, the Eastern Cape health sub-committee, and the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association.

Eastern Cape Provincial Government

In 2014, she stood for election to the

as 16th on the ANC's list. At the election, she won a seat in the provincial legislature. Dyantyi was then made Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health by premier

Phumulo Masualle Phumulo Masualle is a South African politician. He was the Premier of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa, following his appointment in 2014. Masualle, member of the African National Congress (ANC) and SA Communist Party (SACP) stalwart, wa ...

. In September 2016, she welcomed doctors from Cuba. She said that the department did not have enough doctors and that the initiative was part of the provincial government's plan to provide experience. An agreement between four provincial universities and the health department to combine resources and organise the training of health workers was signed at

Nelson Mandela University Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

in September 2017. On 9 May 2018, Dyantyi was appointed as MEC for Social Development, replacing

Nancy Sihlwayi Nomadewuka Nancy Sihlwayi is a South African politician, who was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in the 2019 general elections as a member of the African National Congress. She had previously served as the Member of the Executiv ...

. She announced in January 2019 that the department was struggling to afford to take in new frail care patients and that the department was only referring "severely frail patients" to the department of health.

Parliamentary career

In 2019, she stood for election to the National Assembly as the first candidate on the ANC's provincial-to-national list. At the election, she won a seat in the assembly. She became a member of the Portfolio Committee on Health upon election. In August 2019 Dyantyi said that the National Health Insurance should be like a McDonald's, as in you know what you would get at what price, and the prices are the same everywhere.

Death

Dyantyi died on 7 December 2020 from COVID-19. Parliament's presiding officers sent their condolences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyantyi, Pumza 1948 births 2020 deaths Place of death missing Xhosa people People from Engcobo Local Municipality Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Members of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature Women members of provincial legislatures of South Africa African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African politicians 21st-century South African women politicians Anti-apartheid activists Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa