Ms Ina Cronjé
Curriculum Vitae of Ms Catherina Magdalena Cronjé
Ms Ina Cronjé, MEC for Finance in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, takes over the leadership of KZN Provincial Treasury after a successful run as the longest serving MEC for Education in the province. The wealth of experience she gained as a teacher, lawyer, politician and Education MEC stands her in good stead to lead one of the most important departments of the Provincial Government.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education had had a history of five consecutive financial disclaimers when Ms Cronjé assumed office as Education MEC in 2004. Under her leadership the Department obtained its first unqualified audit since democracy, while she also reduced the teacher:learner ratio from 1:36 to an all time low of 1:31.
Ms Cronjé was born in Pretoria but grew up with her four sisters in Schweizer-Reneke – the old Western Transvaal – now North West Province. In 1964 she graduated at the University of Pretoria, majoring in German, Afrikaans-Netherlands and History of Art.
She taught at schools in Johannesburg and Pretoria before moving to Phalaborwa where she wrote articles for the local community newspaper after enrolling for a correspondence course in Journalism. In 1968 Ms Cronjé resumed her teaching career in Amanzimtoti at Kingsway High School and later at Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High and St Anne’s Diocesan College. During her teaching career Ms Cronjé obtained her University Education Diploma, as well as an Honours Degree in Afrikaans-Netherlands at the University of Natal. She also lectured part-time at the University of Natal in Second Language Teaching Method.
After the birth of her son she retired from teaching to study law fulltime through Unisa. In the late 1980’s she was admitted as an attorney and practiced as such in Pietermaritzburg until 1994. During this period she also became more active in the African National Congress and was a founder member of the first ANC branch in Pietermaritzburg Central after the ANC was unbanned. As a consequence of her political involvement she acted for and defended a number of ANC members in political trials.
In 1994 she was elected as a Member of Parliament in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature. Initially she served as ANC Deputy Chief Whip, under the first Chief Whip, the late Mr Harry Gwala, from whom she took over after he had passed away. She held the position as Chief Whip until April 2004, while also chairing the Portfolio Committee on Conservation and Environmental Affairs and serving on the Finance, Public Accounts and Education portfolio committees. During this period she obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg).
MEC Cronjé serves in the ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee and the Provincial Working Committee.
Contacts: Esther Naidoo Private Secretary Office of the MEC Finance-KZN Tel : 033 - 8466997 Fax : 033 - 8466801 Cell : 0823377169 Email: esther.naidoo@kzntreasury.gov.za