Education
In May 2015 she graduated from Harvard University with a Masters degree in Public Administration.
In May 2015 she graduated from Harvard University with a Masters degree in Public Administration.
She was elected the new District Attorney parliamentary leader on 27 October 2011, beating incumbent Athol Trollip in a tight race. Mazibuko resigned from her position as District Attorney Parliamentary Leader in 2014, to study at Harvard University in the United States for a year. Zille stated that Mazibuko knew she would lose the election for Parliamentary Leader, calling her move to Harvard "plan B".
She became less popular towards the end of her tenure, and was described as arrogant and autocratic by members in the District Attorney"s caucus in Parliament.
She is currently a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. Lindiwe Mazibuko was born on 9 April 1980 in Swaziland.
Her father was a banker and her mother a nurse Mazibuko grew up in Durban and matriculated at Street Mary's DSG in Kloof in 1997.
She pursued a Bachelor of Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and then moved on to obtaining a Bachelor (French, Classics, Media & Writing) at the University of Cape Town in 2006 and a Bachelor Honours (Political Communication) in 2007.
Mazibuko’s career in politics started when she decided to write her honours dissertation on Helen Zille at the time when Zille took over leadership of the Democratic Alliance (District Attorney) from Tony Leon. Mazibuko spent time doing research into Zille’s tenure as Mayor of Cape Town and District Attorney Leader, as well as into the District Attorney"s policies and programmes of action. She found them to be very much in agreement with her own ideologies and political vision for South Africa.
Mazibuko also holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from Harvard University
After matriculating at Street Mary"s DSG Kloof, Lindiwe Mazibuko chose to further her studies at university.
A graduate of the University of Cape Town, Mazibuko wrote a paper on the District Attorney after then party leader Tony Leon stepped down in 2006. Upon graduating Mazibuko took up a post in the District Attorney as the party"s media liaison officer in Parliament.
Labelled a "star performer" by party leader Helen Zille, Mazibuko became a parliamentary candidate for the party in the 2009 general elections. She appeared third on the District Attorney"s KwaZulu-Natal list, thus qualifying for a seat in Parliament as the District Attorney retained its status as official opposition.
She was subsequently appointed as the District Attorney"s Shadow Deputy Minister of Communications, and also succeeded Donald Lee as the party"s National Spokesperson.
In December 2013 Mazibuko appeared on a special edition of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Question Time, broadcast from Johannesburg. Other panelists on the show included Peter Hain, Andile Mngxitama, Eusebius McKaiser and Pik Botha. The main focus of the show was the legacy of Nelson Mandela.
In 2016, Mazibuko criticised the almost total dominance of white males within the District Attorney"s "brains trust".
She is the country"s fourth youngest parliamentarian after the African National Congress"s Mduduzi Manana, Congress of the People"s Luzelle Adams and her District Attorney colleague Masizole Mnqasela, and has varyingly been labelled a "rising star in Parliament" and a possible future District Attorney leader. She stated that her resignation had nothing to do with differences within the District Attorney, but that it would improve what she could offer the party politically. lieutenant does appear, however, that there was a serious and fundamental tension between her and party leader Helen Zille that led to her departure.
