Annelie Lotriet (born 8 June 1960) is a South African politician who is currently serving as theDeputy Speaker of theNational Assembly of South Africa since June 2024.[1] She has served in theOfficial Opposition Shadow Cabinet since she joined theNational Assembly in 2009. She is also a Deputy Chairperson of theDemocratic Alliance (DA)Federal Council.
Born inJohannesburg, Lotriet spent the first two decades of her career as an academic in theFree State, teaching atVista University and then at theUniversity of the Free State. After one term as a local councillor inMangaung, she entered politics full-time at the2009 general election. She went on to serve as ShadowMinister of Arts and Culture from 2009 to 2012, ShadowMinister of Higher Education and Training from 2012 to 2014, ShadowMinister of Science and Technology from 2014 to 2019, and DA Caucus Chairperson from 2019 to 2022. Most recently, she was Opposition Deputy Chief Whip from August 2022 to June 2024.
In parallel with her parliamentary activities, Lotriet was DA Provincial Chairperson in the Free State between September 2012 and November 2020. After unsuccessful campaigns for higher leadership in 2018 and 2020, she was elected to deputiseHelen Zille as Deputy Chairperson of the DA Federal Council in April 2023.
Born and raised inJohannesburg, Lotriet matriculated at theHoërskool Linden, anAfrikaans-medium school inLinden.[2] She attended theRand Afrikaans University, where she completed aB.A. in languages, with concentrations in English andLatin. Thereafter, at the same university, she completed aB.Ed., anM.Ed., and aD.Ed. specialising inhigher education.[2][3] She also holds anL.L.B. from theUniversity of South Africa.[3] She was a member of the student representative council at university and was a member of theProgressive Federal Party in the 1980s.[4]
Between 1985 and 1994, Lotriet was a lecturer in the education department atVista University inBloemfontein, the capital of theFree State. Thereafter she moved to theUniversity of the Free State, also in Bloemfontein; entering as a senior lecturer in the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, she ultimately became a professor and the head of the department ofAfroasiatic studies,sign language and language practice.[2] Her research interests included language andmultilingualism,[5] and she was involved in traininginterpreters for government service and for service at theTruth and Reconciliation Commission.[2]
In tandem with her academic career, Lotriet was a member of thePan South African Language Board, a president of Free State Aquatics, and, from 1985 to 2000, a member of the board of directors ofOFM.[2] She joined theDemocratic Party in 1999,[4] and in 2000 she was elected to represent theDemocratic Alliance (DA) as award councillor inMangaung, Free State.[2] She served six years as a councillor.[2]
Lotriet entered politics full-time after theApril 2009 general election, when she was elected to represent the DA in theNational Assembly, the lower house of theSouth African Parliament.[3] She succeededDésirée van der Walt as ShadowMinister of Arts and Culture in theShadow Cabinet ofAthol Trollip,[6] and in February 2012 she was reshuffled to serve as ShadowMinister of Higher Education and Training inthe Shadow Cabinet ofLindiwe Mazibuko.[7] Later in 2012, at a provincial elective congress in Bloemfontein, she was elected to the first of three consecutive terms as provincial chairperson of the DA's Free State branch, serving under newly elected provincial leaderPatricia Kopane.[8][9]
After her re-election to the National Assembly in theMay 2014 general election, Lotriet was appointed as ShadowMinister of Science and Technology inthe Shadow Cabinet ofMmusi Maimane.[10] She also represented the DA in the ad hoc constitutional review committee established by Parliament to debateland expropriation without compensation.[11][12] She was re-elected to her position as DA provincial chairperson in April 2015 and October 2017 respectively.[13][14]
In the interim, and while still holding her Free State role, she launched an unsuccessful bid to enter the party's national leadership, standing for election as the DA's federal chairperson in 2018.[15][16] She came in third place in the race, behind the incumbent, Athol Trollip, andTshwane MayorSolly Msimanga.[17]
Pursuant to theMay 2019 general election, Lotriet was one of two candidates nominated to succeedAnchen Dreyer as chairperson of the DA's parliamentary caucus.[18] On 30 May, she beatAlf Lees to gain election to the position, andHaniff Hoosen was elected as her deputy.[19] During Parliament's opening sessions, the DA nominated her to stand as the National Assembly's house chairperson for committees, but the motion received only the DA's support and was defeated by 205 votes to 83; theAfrican National Congress'sCedric Frolick was re-elected instead.[20]
In that capacity, she served briefly as acting Leader of the Opposition in October 2019 after Mmusi Maimane's unexpected resignation from the DA.[21] Thereafter she returned to her position as caucus chairperson inthe Shadow Cabinet ofJohn Steenhuisen, who was elected to succeed Maimane. At the DA'snext federal congress in November 2020, she stood unsuccessfully for election as deputy federal chairperson of the DA, alongsideRefiloe Nt'sekhe,Anton Bredell, andJacques Smalle.[22] Because there were only four candidates for three deputy chair positions, Lotriet was the only candidate not to win election.[23] Later that month, she also ceded her provincial leadership role toWerner Horn, who was elected to succeed her as the DA's Free State provincial chairperson.[24]
In August 2021, the DA nominated Lotriet to serve asSpeaker of the National Assembly, a position recently vacated byThandi Modise. She was defeated in a vote by the African National Congress candidate,Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who won 199 votes to Lotriet's 82.[25] Lotriet continued to serve as DA caucus chairperson, gaining re-election in the DA's internal midterm elections in December 2021,[26] and during this period she also represented the DA inthe parliamentary committee that recommendedBusisiwe Mkhwebane's impeachment.[27] In August 2022, after a shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was elected unopposed as the DA's deputy chief whip, under newly appointed chief whipSiviwe Gwarube.[28]
At the DA's next federal congress in Johannesburg in April 2023, Lotriet stood for election as deputy chairperson of theDA Federal Council, this time as one of seven candidates.[29] She won election on 2 April. She,Thomas Walters, andAshor Sarupen serve as the trio of deputy chairpersons under chairpersonHelen Zille.[30]
Lotriet was re-elected to her parliamentary seat in theMay 2024 general election. On 14 June 2024, she was elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the South Africa,[31] Lotriet is the first non-ANC member to hold this position sinceB.G. Ranchod,[32] who served as Deputy Speaker between 1994 and 1996.[33]
She is married to Pieter Lotriet,[16] with whom she has four adult sons.[2]
