Dlodlo is known for having been responsible for the state security portfolio during the 2021 civil unrest in South Africa, and has also been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee since 2007.

Shortly afterwards, in 1980, Dlodlo – then aged 17 – decided to leave South Africa again to join Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the anti-apartheid African National Congress (ANC).

[3] In 1990, she was elected head of the youth section of the ANC for England and Northern Ireland; she was abroad in order to pursue postgraduate studies at the London Institute of Shipping.

[citation needed] In 2014, she said that she had been a director or shareholder in at least 36 companies over the course of her career – including Rosschef Africa, the Wired Cloud, and Women in Energy – although she claimed to have resigned most of those positions when she joined the government.

[8] After her resignation, she was investigated and then indicted on charges of fraud and theft relating to her work at the Scorpions between 2003 and 2004: she was alleged to have stolen some amount (disputed in various reports) from a confidential NPA fund and to have fraudulently inflated a payment to an informant by R30,000.

[7] Between 2007 and 2012, she was secretary general of the MK Military Veterans’ Association, and supported Jacob Zuma's successful bid to become ANC president at the Polokwane conference.

[13] Also in 2010, a memorandum from one-time consultant Gayton McKenzie to Gold Fields identified Dlodlo as a person of influence in Zuma's office who had "spent a great deal of time" helping Gold Fields to lobby Zuma in relation to mining contracts; excerpts from the memorandum were published by the Mail & Guardian in 2013.

[20] Second, also in 2017, the Democratic Alliance, the ANC's main opposition, condemned Dlodlo for spending R1.5 million in public funds on two ministerial cars, both Audis.

[24] She was in this position during the July 2021 civil unrest in South Africa, which led to vigorous public and political debate about alleged intelligence failures by state security agencies.

[26] However, in early April 2022, Dlodlo resigned from the cabinet and the National Assembly to become an executive director on the board of the World Bank, with special responsibility for Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa.