Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga is receiving necessary attention after she collapsed at the Y20 Summit.
Chikunga has had a busy Women’s Month, where she attended a marathon of events as a keynote speaker.
On Monday, she arrived at the Birchwood Conference Centre, Boksburg, for the briefing of the Y20 Summit as keynote speaker. She was billed to speak on a youth engagement platform within the G20 framework.
The summit is currently hosting youth delegates from G20 nations and regional representatives. Chikunga made her way to the stage to address the guests and appeared not to be well.
Security and events personnel noticed her looking faint and came to her rescue, just as she appeared to be about to lose her balance on stage.
Chikunga was then escorted off stage, where she received medical attention.
A guest present at the summit said she seemed weak and ill.
“She appeared very exhausted and weak. She fainted briefly but was up again after a few minutes while escorted to the medic.”
Receiving medical care
A source in the ministry said she is receiving the necessary care.
“She has been working very hard this Women’s Month and attending several events. Possible slight exhaustion,” he said.
“She is getting the much-needed rest and care.”
She recently attended the Royal Global Queen Awards at Emperors Palace and was a speaker.
Chikunga quickly dashed off to the Miss Polo Universe Africa launch. There, she addressed guests on opening up young women to trade with other countries.
Before that, she had met with KFC Regional Support Centre management to discuss a public-private partnership on youth and women empowerment initiatives, including entrepreneurship, sports and tech upskilling.
Too many events for minister
This is all after she engaged with SANESA ahead of the National Conference on Special Education. The conference was under the theme “Creating an Enduring Inclusive Education Legacy”.
The minister was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa on June 30 2024.
She previously served as the Minister of Transport after being Deputy Minister of Transport and Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration.
Presidency confirms incident
The office of the presidency confirmed the incident.
They stated that the minister is recovering and has been advised to take time off.
“The Minister remains committed to addressing the unique challenges faced by women, youth, and persons with disabilities, through economic empowerment, social justice and inclusion, as well as advocacy, mainstreaming, monitoring, and evaluation,” said head of communications Cassius Selala.
Selala added that the department continues to work towards “creating a more inclusive and equitable society for all. This with a particular focus on empowering and enhancing the well-being of women, youth, and persons with disabilities.”
