In 1998, she became the founding chairperson of the Commission on Gender Equality, moving from there to Deputy Secretary-General of the ANC, the sixth most powerful post in the party, before taking up posts as Ambassador to Cuba and then Italy. According to the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disability, Lulu Xingwana, 'When women came into politics in 1994, we decided we had to make a difference. We organised ourselves into a woman's caucus, and infiltrated every committee.