Phindiwe Sangweni is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n attorney and businesswoman. She is currently a member of the African National Congress

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

 and is CEO of a Private Company Siyakhuluma Consultancy. Phindiwe is a member of the Nhlangwini Royal Family and is a niece of His Majesty King Mswati III of Swaziland.

Sangweni was the first black, female director of the Constitutional Court of South Africa

Constitutional Court of South Africa

The Constitutional Court of South Africa was established in 1994 by South Africa's first democratic constitution: the Interim Constitution of 1993. In terms of the 1996 Constitution the Constitutional Court established in 1994 continues to hold office. The court began its first sessions in February...

.

Early life

Phindiwe was born in Ixopo, Kwazulu-Natal. She was born to uMntane Nkosi C Dlamini and Ndlunkulu H Dlamini. When she turned two she moved to Umzinto. She completed her secondary schooling at Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Verulem.

Education & career

In 1993, Phindiwe received a B. Proc degree in Law from the University of Natal

University of Natal

The University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...

. In 2005, Sangweni was the assistant of Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, the executive Mayor of Pretoria.

On 16 September 2010 Princess Phindiwe delivered remarks at a briefing entitled "Traditional Leadership

Traditional authority

Traditional authority is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to tradition or custom...

 in the Modern World: Humanitarianism, Culture and the Diaspora" in the Rayburn House Office Building

Rayburn House Office Building

The Rayburn House Office Building is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street....

 in Washington, D.C. conducted by Congressmember Diane Watson

Diane Watson

Diane Edith Watson is a former US Representative for , serving from 2003 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party...

, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee whose Los Angeles district includes Little Ethiopia. Empaneled with visiting royalty from Cameroon and Ethiopia (Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie

Ermias Sahle Selassie

Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie is the only son of Prince Sahle Selassie of Ethiopia and Princess Mahisente Habte Mariam. He is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, and also of Dejazmach Habte Mariam Gebre Igziabiher, the heir to the former Welega kingdom of Leqa Naqamte.Prince Ermias...

), she described the cultural leadership exercised by reigning and deposed

Deposition (politics)

Deposition by political means concerns the removal of a politician or monarch. It may be done by coup, impeachment, invasion or forced abdication...

 royalty among members of ethnic communities living in either ancestral lands or diaspora

Diaspora

A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...

in the United Kingdom.

Children and marriage

Phindiwe has two children with Durban businessman Moses Sangweni. She has son HRH Makhosini "Omari" Dlamini and HRH Nikita Sangweni. She currently resides with both children in Johannesburg. She divorced Moses in 1997 after a 7 year marriage.