Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams

Stella Tembisa Ndabeni-Abrahams (born 30 June 1978) is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Minister of Small Business Development since 5 August 2021. She previously served as Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies from November 2018 to August 2021. She is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (NWC) of the African National Congress (ANC).

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams

Quotes

"People think that I am God – Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams takes swipe at critics" (2020)

"People think that I am God – Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams takes swipe at critics", City Press (April 5, 2020)

• There is the Trinity – God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But others think there is also God Stella.

• I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make my mark in terms of serving the people of this country. I’m prepared to make enemies.

• But the two things I’m committed to are that I shouldn’t undermine the Constitution of this country and I shouldn’t steal from the poor. From there, nobody is going to stop me for as long as I don’t do those two things.

• Everything that I do seeks to improve the lives of the people in this country. Unfortunately, the methodology and the tactics to do that may make others uncomfortable.

• All I know is that I serve at the pleasure of the president. If tomorrow he doesn’t want me, I will go.

• it’s important that as science and innovation ... we provide a market for them. If we do not have confidence in the people of South Africa and their innovations, who’s going to have confidence [in them]? You find that many local innovations are sold back to us [as foreign concepts].

• That tells you that in the department you need a new skill set, but also you have to reconfigure the mandates of the entities.

• I’m the minister of technology. I’m here to disrupt the status quo. I’m not here to make people comfortable.

• I’m looking at a futuristic department that will be responsive in ensuring that it delivers on the mandate that the president wants.