Zelda Jongbloed

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Zelda Jongbloed (1950–2018) was a South African journalist and politician. She was born Zelda Erasmus on 3 October 1950 in Great Brak River, in the Western Cape. She earned a BA in education from the University of the Western Cape and an MA in journalism from Rhodes University. Jongbloed spent about 40 years in journalism. She started as a cadet reporter for the Cape Herald, and in 1976 she and her then-husband started the Herald Het Suid Western newspaper in George. She also wrote for Rapport and, in 1981, became a senior journalist there. In 1986 she became editor of Rapport Ekstra and later was deputy editor of Rapport. In 2010 she was named acting editor of Die Burger in the Eastern Cape and she wrote political columns for Rapport and Die Burger. She also authored a consumer column in Die Burger. She left the Naspers group in 2012 and served as deputy editor for both the Rapport and Die Burger at that time.

In May 2014, Zelda Jongbloed was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA). She was appointed Shadow Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, serving from 2014 to 2017. In November 2016 she became Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, a position she held until 2018. She also served on several parliamentary committees, including those for Agriculture, Public Service and Administration, and the Multiparty Women’s Caucus.

Jongbloed died of cancer on 21 July 2018 in Mowbray, a suburb of Cape Town, aged 67. The DA praised her work, and her funeral was held on 28 July 2018 in Great Brak River.