Party: | African National Congress |
Office: | Delegate to the National Council of Provinces |
Termstart: | 7 May 2009 |
Termend: | 21 April 2014 |
Office1: | Member of the North West Executive Council for Health |
Termend1: | May 2009 |
Termstart1: | 23 August 2005 |
Birth Place: | Cape Province, Union of South Africa |
Birth Date: | 17 April 1957 |
Office2: | Member of the North West Executive Council for Social Development |
Otherparty: | South African Communist Party |
Premier1: | Edna Molewa |
Premier2: | Edna Molewa |
Termstart2: | 30 April 2004 |
Termend2: | 23 August 2005 |
Predecessor1: | Elliot Mayisela |
Successor2: | Nikiwe Num-Mangqo |
Successor1: | Rebecca Kasienyane (for Health and Social Development) |
Rachel Nomonde Rasmeni (born 17 April 1957) is a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Council of Provinces from 2009 to 2014 and in the North West Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2009. Under Premier Edna Molewa, she served as the North West's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health from 2005 to 2009 and as MEC for Social Development from 2004 to 2005. She also served on the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party between 2007 and 2017.
Rasmeni was born on 17 April 1957 in the Eastern Cape.[1]
Rasmeni represented the ANC in the North West Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2009. From 2004 to 2009, during her third term in office, she also sat on the North West Executive Council under Premier Edna Molewa. Molewa appointed her to the Executive Council shortly after the 2004 general election, on 30 April 2004, naming her as MEC for Social Development.[2] In a subsequent reshuffle, announced on 23 August 2005, she was moved to a new portfolio as MEC for Health.[3] While serving in that office, in 2007, Rasmeni was elected for the first time to the Central Committee of the SACP; she ultimately served two terms on the committee, from 2007 to 2017.[4]
From 2017 to 2021, she was her country's final resident ambassador to Peru due to the closure of the embassy in Lima.[5]
In the 2009 general election, Rasmeni did not stand for re-election to the provincial legislature but instead was elected as a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces, the upper house of the South African Parliament. The ANC, which was the majority party in Parliament, nominated her to serve as chairperson of the Select Committee on Social Services.[6] At the end of the legislative term, Rasmeni did not stand for re-election in the 2014 general election.
She married trade unionist Solly Rasmeni in 1981.[7] [8]