Siviwe Gwarube (born 14 July 1989) is a South African politician who has served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition since August 2022. She has been a Member of the

National Assembly of South Africa 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 ...

since May 2019. She was the Shadow Minister of Health from June 2019 until February 2022, the National Spokesperson of the Democratic Alliance from November 2020 until August 2022 and the Deputy Chief Whip of the Official Opposition from December 2021 until August 2022.

Early life and education

Gwarube was born in KwaMdingi,

King William's Town Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London. Qonce, with a population of around ...

. She was raised by her grandmother. She attended Kingsridge High School for Girls. Gwarube holds a BA degree in law, Politics and Philosophy from

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

Career

Gwarube began her career working in communications. She was employed in the office of the then-leader of the opposition

Lindiwe Mazibuko Lindiwe Mazibuko (born 9 April 1980) is a Swazi-born South African academic, former politician, musician and the former leader of the Official Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). She was elected DA Parliamentary Leader on 27 October 2011, beat ...

in 2012. Gwarube later worked as the Head of Ministry at the

Western Cape Department of Health The Western Cape Department of Health is a department of the Government of the Western Cape, responsible for providing public healthcare to the population of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The political head of the department is the ...

under Provincial Minister

Nomafrench Mbombo Nomafrench Mbombo (born 6 September 1966) is a South African academic and politician who has been the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Health since 2015 and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since 2014. She previously served a ...

. Prior to her election to Parliament, she was head of the DA's communications department. She was sworn in as an MP on 22 May 2019. DA parliamentary leader

Mmusi Maimane Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and Leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa, South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (So ...

appointed her Shadow Minister of Health on 5 June 2019. Newly elected parliamentary leader

John Steenhuisen John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...

(elected in October 2019) kept her in her post. Gwarube was the DA's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

spokesperson during the

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

. On 24 November 2020, she was announced as the DA's new national spokesperson. Gwarube was elected as the deputy chief whip of the DA parliamentary caucus in a hotly-contested internal midterm caucus election on 2 December 2021, defeating Chris Hunsinger and Angel Khanyile. Gwarube replaced Jacques Julius, who had decided against running for re-election. She remained as the DA's national spokesperson. On 24 February 2022, Michéle Clarke replaced her as Shadow Minister of Health. On 18 August 2022, Gwarube was appointed as the Chief Whip of the DA caucus in the National Assembly and consequently became the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, succeeding

Natasha Mazzone Natasha Wendy Anita Mazzone (born 9 May 1979) is a South African politician who served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from October 2019 until August 2022. She has been a Member of the Nat ...

Solly Malatsi Mmoba Solomon "Solly" Malatsi (born 22 December 1985) is a South African politician from Limpopo. He has been a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since May 2014 and the national spokesperson of the Democratic Alliance (DA) since A ...

succeeded her as the DA's national spokesperson.

References

External links

Ms Siviwe Gwarube – Parliament of South AfricaSiviwe Gwarube – People's Assembly
Living people 1989 births Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Rhodes University alumni People from Qonce People from Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality {{WesternCape-politician-stub