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Dr Mimmy Gondwe talks about her love learning and people, juggling single motherhood in the mother city to the capital city as the Deputy Minister for Higher Education and the capital city.

The 49-year-old Gondwe was appointed as the Deputy Minister for Higher Education on 30 June 2024 and has been a Member of Parliament for the DA since 2019, and served in numerous Parliamentary Committees, including the Committees on Public Enterprises, Public Service and Administration, State Security, and the Section 194 Enquiry.

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Love for art

She was born in 1977 and attended Mmabatho High School in the North West, where she discovered her love for art.

“I am crazy about art, and in school I specialised in linocut prints. It’s pressed clay, which you etch into with a specific tool to create patterns and artwork.

“When you work and your hand slips, you could easily turn it into an image. I love that, it gives you freedom. Art is like that, it’s about you and how you are feeling,” she added.

Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mimmy Gondwe. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen.

Gondwe says she hasn’t created art since high school but considers buying an easel and canvas to start again one day.

“I once sold one of my linocut prints. I made a print after Chris Hani was gunned down. I remember that image of him lying in a pool of blood was stuck in my mind.

“I also did one of Mandela’s face, his face, his wrinkles; I had to etch his features on a piece of linocut clay. I don’t draw now, or paint anymore.”

“When I do get the opportunity, I buy paintings and hang them on my wall. I have a few. Some of my favourites are from a young artist in George; he is not famous yet, but I have framed some of them. I hope one day he will be famous because then I will own priceless paintings.”

Gondwe says in a way her parents somewhat disappointed her when they said that there was no money in art, which initially pushed her to enrol in the University of Cape Town in 1994, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Philosophy, followed by a Bachelor of Laws from Rhodes University, and both a Master’s and Doctor of Laws in Mercantile Law from the University of Stellenbosch.

Awards

Gondwe, who was awarded several scholarships and grants in recognition of her academic achievements, including the Fulbright Scholarship, the Andrew Mellon Foundation Scholarship and the Baden-Württemberg Scholarship, while studying towards her PhD.

“I was the first African woman to obtain a PhD in Mercantile Law from the Mercantile Law Department of the University of Stellenbosch at the age of 34 years.”

Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mimmy Gondwe. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen.

In 2008, she bought a property in Cape Town, where she has lived with her two children since then: a daughter in matric and a son in primary school.

“When I am not working, I like to laze around the house in my pyjamas, watch movies on Netflix. I am a Bridgeton fan; I love any kind of historic drama or any epic kind of tale. I have a thing for movies from the so-called olden days, like when women wore petticoats and corsets.

“I love those days where I can just be in my pj’s the whole day and not put on makeup or dress up and just relax and think.

“I also love to cook for my children, especially at Christmas lunch, with turkey or a leg of roast lamb. Because I don’t really get time to cook a lot with my busy work schedule, but Christmas is that one time of the year I get to relax and cook for children.”

A typical day

A typical day in Gondwe’s day usually starts early by checking in with the children before heading to the first meeting of the day.

“I usually don’t have time to drop the children off at school, but I have someone who helps with that. My son is the one who always needs something last-minute and kicks his blankets off the bed at night, so at times I have to wake up at night to check that he is covered.

“If I am lucky, I am back by the time the children come home from school, and we get to catch up before they start with their homework,” she explains.

Besides juggling being a single mom and a politician, Gondwe also juggles the mother city with the capital and said she travels frequently between the two provinces.

“When I am available on Sundays, I definitely go to church. My faith centres me. Going to church is the one place where I feel I am truly myself.

“Nobody is calling me deputy minister, and I listen to the pastor preaching with the other congregants.”

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