Dlamini was born in Nquthu on 10 September 1962 and grew up in Nkandla, Matshensikazi and Imbali, Pietermaritzburg. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Studies from the University of Zululand. Dlamini was politically active from an early age. In 1983 she became one of the founding members of Imbali Youth Organisation, an affiliate of the United Democratic Front, which worked closely with the South African Students Congress and Imbali Civic Organisation. In 1985, she joined the South African National Students Congress as one of only a few women who participated in its politics. In 1989, Dlamini graduated from the University of Zululand with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work which she passed with distinction.
ANCWL
In 1991 she became part of interim leadership that built the African National Congress Women's League structures in KwaZulu-Natal. She was then elected to the first Regional Executive Committee of the ANCWL. In 1992 and 1993, she served as Regional Secretary, and was elected as Deputy Secretary General of the ANCWL in 1993. In 1998 she was elected Secretary General of the ANCWL, and served for two terms until 2008. On 7 August 2015, Dlamini was elected as the ANCWL's new leader, replacing then-Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga. In 2017 Dlamini campaigned for former African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to be elected as president of the ANC.
In 2006, the Directorate of Special Operations implicated Dlamini and thirteen other ANC MPs in what South African media called the "Travelgate" scandal, a scandal involving abuse of Parliamentary travel vouchers. Her charge sheet stated that she knew the travel vouchers could be used only for air travel but nevertheless used them to cover the costs of hotel accommodation, car rentals, and other benefits. She was convicted of fraud after pleading guilty to a total of R245,000 in fraudulent travel claims. Dlamini subsequently lost her position as a member of Parliament. However, at the 52nd National Conference of the ANC in December 2007, Dlamini was elected to the ANC's National Executive and National Working Committees.
Dlamini was appointed as Deputy Minister of Social Development on 11 May 2009, and became Minister of Social Development on 1 November 2010. As Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Gender Based Violence, she led the roll out of the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre, a 24-hour call centre which supported and counselled victims of gender-based violence. Dlamini also chaired the IMC on Combating Substance Abuse and the IMC for Early Childhood Development. In 2016, Dlamini was challenged by the opposition Democratic Alliance after she defended the amount of R753 per month that a social grant beneficiary receives as "enough to buy adequate food as well as additional non-food items", while she herself stayed at hotels costing R11,000 a night. In late 2016 she also accepted at luxury car valued at R1.3 million, and her deputy, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, a R1.1 million car.
Grants crisis
As Minister of Social Development, Dlamini failed to realise the government's plan to take over payment of South Africa's social grants by 31 March 2017, when the existing arrangement with Cash Paymaster Services to distribute payments had been due to expire. This created a concern that welfare recipients would not receive grant payments from 1 April 2017. Dlamini was criticised for her lack of action and her inability to ensure either a new service contract or the insourcing of the service. She was also criticised for her handling of the media during the controversy. On 6 March 2017, the contract with Cash Paymaster Services was renewed for another 2 years. The Constitutional Court held Dlamini primarily responsible for the crisis, with Chief JusticeMogoeng Mogoeng saying there was no explanation for the incompetence displayed by her and SASSA. According to constitutional scholar Pierre de Vos, the Constitutional Court had concluded that SASSA and Dlamini could not be trusted to do their constitutionally mandated job to ensure delivery of social grants, and could not be trusted not to lie to the courts in the future. In September of 2018 the Constitutional Court found, unanimously, that Dlamini ought to be held accountable in her personal capacity for 20% of the costs of the case brought against her by Black Sash Trust and Freedom Under Law. Further, she was found to have misled the court – that is, she lied under oath – in order to protect herself. The National Prosecuting Authority will decide whether or not to charge her with perjury. Despite her failures, President Jacob Zuma continued to support Dlamini. She in turn supported Zuma's preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in her campaign to succeed him as ANC leader and South Africa's president.
Absenteeism
The Minister was also criticised for not appearing before Parliament or in DSD portfolio committee meetings during and in the wake of the grants crisis. The Parliamentary Monitoring Group's People's Assembly indicated that Dlamini was among the most prolific attendees at parliamentary committee meetings in 2016. However, her attendance waned in 2017, when she was expected to account for the grants crisis; between her and her Deputy Minister, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, by the first week of May, the DSD had appeared in only three of the nine meetings that had taken place in 2017. In February, Dlamini failed to appear before Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts to account for irregular expenditure of about R1 billion by the South African Social Security Agency during the 2016/2017 financial year.
Private Security
In mid-May 2017, Minister Dlamini appeared before a parliamentary SCOPA meeting where, amongst other issues, she was questioned about R1 million spent on private VIP security for her children, paid for by SASSA. Responding to questions about this very irregular arrangement, Dlamini responded that "some people understand government more than others”, and that she had to resort to private security due to the fact that "government processes take a long period”. She further claimed that, despite the VIP protection she received through the South African Police Service, her home was broken into on three separate occasions.In 2018, she requested for security following threats made on her family. This led to the inquiry of about 2 million rands which she then needed to pay back for the services after opposition party members request she pays for the services.
