Nelisiwe Prudence Moerane Mbatha, was born in Evaton in the Vaal where she did her Primary education and in high-school is where she began an anti-apartheid activism under the banner of COSAS. At the dawn of democracy 1995 She was elected as a councillor in Lekoa Vaal Metro Municipality until 2000, (that was the interim phase of local government).
In the year 2000-2007 she was elected as a councillor in Midvaal Municipality and in Sedibeng District Municipality when government introduced speakers in the municipalities, she was elected the first Speaker of Council. She headed the council for two consecutive terms.
While she was still a councillor she served in the National and Provincial association of local government, she was a Gauteng Executive member of GALA chairing the following committees (IGR) Inter-Governmental Relations, Municipal Pension Fund, Moral Regeneration, Human Resource, SALGA Deputy Chairperson of District Learning Network, Disciplinary committee She also acquired a Certificate of Municipal Management, a Diploma in Human Resources and Change Management.
Nelisiwe in her mid-3rd term as the Council Speaker in 2007, she was then seconded to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. where she served in different portfolios e.g Local Government, Scopa ( Standing Committee On public Accounts), Safety and Security, Education, Infrastructure and Ocpol ( Oversight Committee On Premier’s Office and the Legislature). She also became the chairperson of the governance committee of the caucus and Secretary of the Women’s Caucus.
Whist she continued to capacitate herself , She holds various academic qualifications in Local Government, such as leadership public partnership, Project and Financial management in various institutions in the country and abroad.
She also did several leadership courses such as Law making, Governance, Stakeholder Engagements, Protocol, Train the Trainer, Advance Governance and Public Leadership NQF Level 5 and Level 7 ( post graduate diploma), NQF level 8 in Moral and Emotional intelligence in leadership with the following institutions.. Wits PNDM, Tshwane University, KZN University, University of Johannesburg, NWU and Regynesis College.
In 2009 Nelisiwe was appointed MEC ( Gauteng Sports, Arts Culture and Recreation). As the MEC she was awarded with a certificate of recognition for delivering the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Gauteng which built social cohesion, brought unity and respect by other countries, our Humanity (Ubuntu), most importantly the respect for our identity which is our South African flag. Nelisiwe was later appointed in the Ministerial Committee of Social Development dealing with Forster Care.
She was the Sedibeng Regional Executive Member of the ANC. She was the Provincial Executive member of the ANC Women’s League and the Chairperson of Sedibeng Region. She belonged to the Provincial Training Team on Election and in the Provincial Political Education Training Unit (PETU), she was also a Board member of Cape Gate company in Boipatong.
Her commitment to public service inspired her to open up a company, through continuous persuasion by her colleague ( Sikelelwa Clara Mwenze) , Nelisiwe joined the build environment Industry in 2015 in which she is currently the director of DNB SUCCESSIVE GROUP which started working in Tshepong as a subcontractor, constructing RDP houses under PG Construction owned by the late Patricia Gumbi, She is also a director at TOKIMEC CO OP together with four other members, with which she managed a brick work project at Olievenhoutbosch subcontracted under SAWIC Co operative and PMA construction JV. She managed a project to rebuild a house of a destitute family in Palm Springs (Gauteng) donated by SAWIC. She is a member of South African Women In Construction NPO and the Deputy Chairperson of the Gauteng chapter. She was recently appointed as the Chairperson of SAWIC &BE Gauteng Chapter at an AGM help in November 2020.