[3] She has identified Cheryl Carolus of the United Democratic Front and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of the African National Congress (ANC) as among her role models in political leadership.
[6] She served variously as chairperson of the board of the Lejweleputswa Development Agency, a local development agency in Lejweleputswa, Free State;[3] as a member of the founding board of governors of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a think tank (2010–2013); and as a member of the council of the Mangosuthu University of Technology (2012–2014).
[4] In March 2010, she was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the board of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), a state-owned enterprise.
[11] She became acting chairperson at the end of August 2011, following the expiry of the term of Chairperson Zodwa Manase,[12] and remained in that capacity until November 2012, when she and the rest of the board stepped down in order to recuse themselves fully while the Special Investigating Unit concluded an investigation into allegations of procurement irregularities at SITA.
[10] Opposition parties, especially the Democratic Alliance,[16] expressed concern about her appointment, given what they perceived as her close political links to the ANC and to Dlamini-Zuma in particular.
[20] The job was based out of the ANC's headquarters at Luthuli House and was incompatible with the SABC directorship because of a potential conflict of interest.
[27] It was also reported that Potgieter-Gqubule had been mentioned as a leadership candidate in meetings of a lobby group which sought to install "young" persons (under 60) in top party offices.
[35] Potgieter-Gqubule was expected to run on a slate aligned to Ramaphosa but, when the elective conference began, it was announced that she had declined the Deputy Secretary-General nomination by email, according to the Mail & Guardian without providing any advance notice to her allies in the pro-Ramaphosa camp.