[1] She grew up in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, where, during apartheid, she was inspired by the activism of James Kati and Alfred Xobololo, as well as by her elder siblings and by the 1976 Soweto uprising.
[2] She completed high school to grade 10,[3] and later she worked in the postal services; on one occasion, she was arrested for her involvement in recruitment for the Transkei Post Office Workers Association, a trade union.
[2] In 1997, Dlulane joined the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament, where she filled a casual vacancy in the ANC's caucus.
[5] In the next general election in April 2009, Dlulane was returned to the National Assembly,[6] where the ANC nominated her to chair the multi-party women's caucus in the fourth democratic Parliament.
[8] She was re-elected to the National Assembly in the May 2014 general election, ranked 54th on the ANC's national party list,[6] and the ANC subsequently named her as its candidate for election as chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation,[9] to serve alongside Michael Ralegoma, who would be the party's whip in the committee.
[17] She was charged with criminal fraud,[18] and the Cape High Court convicted her on 16 October 2006 after she pled guilty in terms of a plea bargain.