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 “My election is not a personal victory but a victory for the African continent in general and for women in particular… I would like to thank Dr Jean Ping for all the hard work he has put into the Commission and I would just like to say I have known Dr Ping for some time – when he was still the Foreign Minister of Gabon. I hope that although you have said you have bowed out, if I do knock at your door asking for advice, that the door will be open... 

 It is fitting that this happens during the period declared as the Decade of Women by this very Assembly. We are grateful as women that our leaders have understood that women have to participate and take their rightful place in society so they can reach their full potential because it is only if men and women reach their full potential, shall we as a continent reach our full potential.”
  - Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's Acceptance Speech

With less than a year left in her tenure as the chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s name has been making waves as the next to lead South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), which will inevitable make her the country’s next president if the ANC wins the upcoming national elections. South Africa’s next national elections will be in 2019 but the ruling party’s conference in which it will elect for its leader will be in 2017.  
The current ANC leader and also the South African president, Jacob Zuma, has been reported to have no interest in serving a third term as the ANC president and by the look of things, Dlamini-Zuma will be headed against the current deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who happens to the majority’s favourite but this will not be the first time Dlamini-Zuma finds herself in this ‘predicament’ – it will be history re-writing itself once again...
Not an Easy Road to Chairpersonship
When she took over the chairpersonship of the AU Commission back in 2012, Dlamini-Zuma was welcomed by security crises across the continent including the brewing conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, the escalating conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and also the instability in northern Mali where Islamist militants had seized control of several towns following a political insurgence. Hers was not an easy road to this top post in the African continent; though she had the support of most of the Anglophone countries predominantly the southern Africa countries, she still had to fight for the post against the then commission chair, Jean Ping of Gabon, who had the support of most of Francophone countries who were lobbying for his second term and this led to stalemate. The battle for the leadership position, which was divided by linguistic lines, left the Continent torn into two with English-speaking countries as Dlamini-Zuma supporters and the alienated French-speaking countries rooting for incumbent Ping. Ping, Gabon’s former foreign minister, had led the Commission’s executive arm since 2008.
On the other side, some countries that felt that by awarding the chair to South Africa which happened to be one of the Continent’s major nation, it will push for its own agenda and will try to use the commission to dominate the continent. The countries cited the fact that South African’s individual regional and global interests laid at the heart its foreign policy which may compromise its stand as unbiased leader.
Dlamini-Zuma won the chairpersonship by 60% (37 votes from the 54 member states) in the third round of voting (the candidate required to secure a two-thirds majority vote to be declared a winner) therefore making her the first woman to lead the AU commission.
She had to trend carefully and at the same time mend the wounded ties caused by the battle and also show her stewardship capability. She had to stand not as a South African but as an African – a Pan-Africanist to be exact.
Speech of H.E Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission during the official visit of the President of the United States, H.E Barack Obama, to the African Union Headquarters (July, 2015,) © AU Commission
Former anti-Apartheid Activist
During her youth days, Dlamini-Zuma was an active underground member of the ANC and also an elected deputy president of South African Students Organisation. These organisations were actively fighting the then South African apartheid regime. In 1976, she fled into exile in the United Kingdom where she resumed and completed her medical studies at the University of Bristol after two (2) years.
Politics in her Bloodstream
After the 1994 elections, under the country’s former president Nelson Mandela’s cabinet, she was appointed as Minister of Health – a post she held until 1999. She was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister by the then President Thabo Mbeki in 1999 and later on as Minister of Home Affairs under President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet until her resignation in 2012. She was elected the chairperson of the AU Commission.
Her Leadership Achievements
As South Africa’s Foreign Africa Minister, she advocated for her country’s foreign policy which campaigned and supported human rights, peace and stability as well as collective development and advancement of the African continent.
As the Minister of Health in her country, she fostered fundamental health reforms as a result she managed to de-segregate the health system and gave free basic healthcare to the poor.
In 2001, she acted as the president of the UN World Conference against Racism (WCAR) held in Durban, the aim of the Conference was to eradicate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and in her closing remarks, she pointed out that Durban had decided to pave a way for a new road-map to fight against racism.
Through her tenure as the commission’s chair, Dlamini-Zuma has been determined to reawaken the spirit of Pan-Africanism and establish the AU as a noteworthy, premier Pan-African institution as well as promoting continental integration.
Heading Africa’s Continental Union
In order to breathe life into Pan-Africanism and enhance continental integration, Dlamini-Zuma initiated the 50 year vision for Africa called Agenda 2063. In the Agenda 2063, the commission states that, “Africa should end all wars by 2020” which may seem unrealistic looking at the way the continent is currently dealing with wars in most African countries by remaining mum and waiting for the western countries to intervene. It should however be noted that one of the Agenda 2063 visions was to accelerate the subject of the continental Free-Trade Agreement which was recently signed by EAC-COMESA-SADC member states therefore sealing the vision of African preceding policy-makers.
As the AU chair, Dlamini-Zuma has voiced her worry on the ‘lack’ of professionalism by the AU which has seen many state members sending deadbeat diplomats as their Addis Ababa representatives therefore resulting in the commission’s development stagnation.
 As an Ideal Candidate
The support for Dlamini-Zuma, though it would be rooted for by many feminism groups which is great achievement (and will be a huge step stone for them), it should be appreciated that her role as head of the AU Commission puts her in a good position that South Africa as a country should be eager to enjoy and benefit from. She is in a better position that has allowed her to know her country’s economic and political strength, not only locally but in international terms. She also holds within her knowledge the scope of various policies from across the continent that she, in her role as the chair, has been exposed to and which she has seen first-hand how they benefited and/or failed the countries that implemented them.  
Having had made history by becoming the first woman to lead the commission, it is then clear and understandable that becoming the first female president of her country will be an easy transition for her. It should also be noted that not only was Dlamini-Zuma representing women in this high post but also stood as a candidate of the southern region which in almost half a century of the commission’s existence, it had never held. By electing for Dlamini-Zuma into the presidential seat, South Africa, as one of the major nations will be making a marking and probably becoming a ‘spokes-country’ for gender-equality that has become one of the continent’s hot topics.
Her experience as a former cabinet minister for two different ministries makes her capable and more than qualified for this role.
Her track-record has shown her to be one principled person who does not tolerate indolence and failure but a leader who calls for accountability in office – something that South Africa’s government really needs at the moment.