Lindiwe Daphney Zulu (born 21 April 1958) is a South African politician and communications strategist who served as Minister of Social Development from May 2019 to May 2024.

[2] Immediately after joining the ANC, she left Swaziland for Mozambique and then for Tanzania, where she attended the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College.

[1] In 1991, during the negotiations to end apartheid, Zulu returned to South Africa and became head of communications for the newly relaunched ANC Women's League.

Also in 1993, she was seconded to the information and publicity department of the mainstream ANC in order to serve as the party's spokesman ahead of the first post-apartheid elections in 1994.

[1] She was posted for Brazil for over four years, returning in early 2009,[2] and the Brazilian government later awarded her the Order of Rio Branco for her contribution to Brazil–South Africa relations.

[3] She was also appointed as one of Zuma's three envoys to Zimbabwe, tasked with helping implement the 2008 Zimbabwean peace agreement alongside Charles Nqakula and Mac Maharaj.

[11][12] In 2013, Zulu made public comments about the upcoming Zimbabwean elections that led Robert Mugabe to call her "a stupid, idiotic street woman".

[18] Zulu returned to the National Assembly in the 2014 general election,[10] and she was appointed to Zuma's cabinet as Minister of Small Business Development, a newly created portfolio.

"[23] At the ANC's 54th National Conference, convened in December 2017 to elect a new president, Zulu endorsed Zuma's preferred successor, her former boss Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; she said that it was important to support women candidates in order to ensure gender parity in the party leadership.

[27] In 2018, the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, investigated Zulu after Toby Chance of the Democratic Alliance alleged that she had committed misconduct by lying to the National Assembly.

[28] Mkhwebane found that Zulu's statement had been incorrect – her department had spent R1.8 million on two ministerial BMWs – but cleared her of any misconduct.