Abstract
This study focussed on the leadership role provided by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma during her four-year tenure as the chair of the African Union Commission (AUC). The study sets out to analyse Dlamini-Zuma’s leadership role as the executive head of the AUC and the leadership she provided in not only mainstreaming gender in the AUC but also in terms of resolving conflict situations on the African continent and dealing with controversies that the African Union (AU) has been faced with. Dlamini-Zuma’s leadership role is assessed through two theoretical frameworks. In terms of how she was able to mainstream gender in the AU, the study uses the tinkering, tailoring and transforming approaches to analyse the contribution she had made in gender mainstreaming in the African Union. In terms of exploring Dlamini-Zuma’s leadership role in addressing conflict situations, health crisis and other controversies on the Africa continent, an executive leadership framework was used. Assessing Dlamini-Zuma’s leadership role using the above frameworks has revealed that during her four-year tenure Dlamini-Zuma was able to achieve several important milestones despite some of the resource, bureaucratic and legal-political constraints that she was faced with. The milestones that Dlamini-Zuma achieved during her four-year tenure included highlighting and bringing women’s issues to the forefront, heading up a campaign to combat child marriages as well as developing the Agenda 2063 blueprint. Although Dlamini-Zuma achieved some milestones during her tenure she was criticised for her slow responses in dealing with the Ebola crisis as well as her slow and ineffective conflict resolution response. Dlamini-Zuma has also been criticised for not delivering the bureaucratic reform she promised upon her election.
M.A. (Politics)