Early Life & Education :
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was born on 3 November 1955 in Claremont, Durban in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She matriculated from Ohlange High School in Inanda and enrolled with the National University of Lesotho for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science and Education. After graduating, she Lectured at the Impumalanga Teachers Training College, (1980 to 1981) and taught at Ohlange High School (1981 to 1983).

Political career:
When the Natal Organisation of Women (NOW), (an affiliate of the United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed in December 1983, Mlambo-Ngcuka became the organisation’s first president. Following the restriction of the UDF, NOW spearheaded some of the front’s activities in Natal.
From 1984 she worked as a youth director for the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Board in Geneva, where she was involved in the promotion of development of education in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Between 1987 and 1989 she was the director of TEAM, a development organisation based in Cape Town. There she was involved in serving squatter women and African independent churches, promoting economic self-reliance and running skills training programmes. In 1990 Mlambo-Ngcuka started working for the World University Service South Africa (WUS), based in Cape Town, supporting organisations promoting literacy and rural development, and also involved in university outreach to marginal communities.
Between 1993 and 1994 she was management consultant at Phumelela Services in Cape Town, where she was responsible for promoting race and gender sensitive organisational development, general change management, restructuring of institutions and linking change with productivity.

Mlambo-Ngcuka has been a member of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) Select Committee and chairperson of the Public Service Select Committee. She is also the deputy chairperson of the Western Cape African National Congress (ANC) Provincial Executive Committee.