Madiepetsane Charlotte Lobe (née Pheko; born 2 July 1973) is a South African politician, diplomat and civil servant who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2004 and in the Free State Provincial Legislature from 2004 to 2008.
After several years of employment in public administration, in July 2022 she embarked on a posting as South African High Commissioner to Singapore.
[1] During apartheid, Lobe and her sister, Gertrude, were active in the anti-apartheid movement in the former Orange Free State.
[9] She also said that Sibongile Besani, her deputy, had colluded with Magashule as part of a scheme of "consolidated efforts to render me useless by sidelining me from my core function", concluding that the current provincial leadership was "not conducive, not only to my conscience, but also to my health".
[8] She said that her resignation was based "purely on principle" and that she had decided she would "rather join those who speak out and seek alternative ways of protecting the Constitution of South Africa".
[8] At that time, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mosiuoa Lekota, both allies of Mbeki, had already broken away from the ANC and announced their intention to form a rival political party, a project which became the Congress of the People (COPE).
[14] The Sunday Times additionally claimed that Lobe had attempted to resign from COPE earlier in 2010 but had been convinced not to.
On 8 October 2010, COPE's national leadership resolved to replace Lobe with Deidre Carter, a Lekota supporter, until the party's next elective congress.
With the incidents that were taking place [during the Zuma presidency, later investigated by the Zondo Commission] I feel vindicated because people now understand why some of us took that decision at the time.
[2] In 2014 in Cape Town, Lobe ran into Susan Shabangu, an ANC politician soon to be appointed as Minister in the Presidency for Women.
[2] She later transferred to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), where she served as chief director for transformation and transversal programmes.
[2] Lobe rejoined the ANC[2] and in 2021 was appointed as South African High Commissioner to Singapore by Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.