The work of Zanele Mbeki offers an important example of how feminist agency can shape national development beyond formal political office.
Image: SAPA | Werner Beukes/File
WE need a feminist consciousness around political leadership, including within the spaces that surround heads of state.
In this regard, the work of Zanele Mbeki offers an important example of how feminist agency can shape national development beyond formal political office. Mbeki once recounts a telling moment from the presidency of her husband, former President Thabo Mbeki.
On one occasion, when he was scheduled to meet with a group of prominent business leaders, she requested to see the list of attendees. To her dismay, she discovered that not a single woman had been invited.
Unwilling to accept such exclusion as normal, she intervened decisively. Though she was neither the convener of the meeting nor an invited participant, she insisted that women must be part of the conversation.
Acting on principle, she reached out to several accomplished businesswomen she knew and encouraged them to attend.
It was a quiet yet powerful act of feminist leadership — one that challenged the entrenched invisibility of women in spaces where economic decisions are made. In doing so, she reminded us that inclusion does not happen by accident; it often requires the courage of someone willing to disrupt the status quo.
Her leadership has never relied on visibility or rhetorical prominence. Rather, it reflects a tradition within African feminist praxis that values institution-building, community mobilisation, and economic transformation.
For decades, she has championed women’s economic empowerment through initiatives that address the structural barriers faced by women in rural and township economies.
Among her most enduring contributions is the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank, which expanded access to finance for women long excluded from formal banking systems. The initiative reflected a deeper feminist understanding: that economic agency is foundational to social and political empowerment.
Her more recent work engages with the social business model developed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. Social business seeks to reconcile market mechanisms with social justice by prioritising social impact rather than profit maximisation.
In her articulation of the model, women-led enterprises become vehicles not only for poverty reduction but also for structural transformation in local economies.
This perspective resonates strongly with broader currents in African feminist scholarship, which emphasise development approaches grounded in lived realities, collective empowerment, and institutional innovation.
In this sense, Zanele Mbeki’s work illustrates how feminist leadership can operate quietly yet decisively to reshape economic possibilities for women across communities.
Zanele Mbeki’s feminist leadership also reminds us that great leaders recognise and celebrate the leadership of others. By honouring women who have paved the way, she reaffirms our commitment to building an Africa where women’s leadership, innovation, and economic agency continue to flourish.
Recently, she hosted a leadership soiree in Marlboro honouring two extraordinary African women. Gloria Serobe — an accomplished businesswoman, one of the first Black female chartered accountants in South Africa, and founder of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings (WIPHOLD).
Through her pioneering work, she has opened pathways for women’s participation and leadership within the financial and corporate sectors.
Serobe was honoured alongside Gertrude Mongella, the distinguished Tanzanian leader who chaired the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women and led the African delegation during this historic global gathering in 1995.
Her remarkable leadership earned her the affectionate title “Mama Beijing”, symbolising her enduring contribution to advancing the global women’s rights agenda.
Her admirable legacy invites us to take the potential of women-centred social business models as a pathway toward sustainable and inclusive development on the African continent.
* Professor Edith Dinong Phaswana is a prominent academic at Unisa, currently serving as the Acting Executive Dean of the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs.
** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media.