Hailing from De Aar in the Pixley ka Seme District, Ms Vilakazi’s earliest awareness of politics was due to the life of poverty faced by the majority of people in this country. Even through the valiant struggles of parents to raise their children into better lives, it was clear that much work still needs to be done to ensure that all people living in this country have an equal opportunity to achieve lives of dignity and freedom. 

This marked her entry into politics, a role she pursues with the same vigour and dedication. Her involvement in the Women’s League has, from the beginning, contributed to shaping her appreciation of the role of a woman in influencing change in her community. 

From being a volunteer in the ANC Regional Office of Pixley ka Seme, Ms Vilakazi moved within the ranks and became the Regional Secretary of the ANCWL in 2001 and the Regional Organiser of the ANC in 2004.

In 2006 she was deployed as the Secretary to the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, after which she was elected as the Provincial Secretary of the ANCWL. She is currently serving as the PTT member of the ANCWL.

In 2017 Ms Vilakazi was directly elected as a member of the ANC PEC as well as the PWC and Deployment Committee of the governing party. In May 2019 she was sworn in as MEC for Transport, Safety & Liaison.

Due to her unapologetic stance as an activist for women’s rights, Premier Dr Zamani Saul redeployed MEC Vilakazi to the Department of Social Development during a cabinet reshuffle in June 2020. 

Throughout her career, she has sustained a firm focus on poverty alleviation and advancing the voice of women in political and governance spaces. She is unapologetically an activist against patriarchy and inequality and consistently builds a legacy of women as game changers. 

In MEC Vilakazi’s previous portfolio, she was committed to the creation of a society where people were and felt safe. She strongly condemns any form of violence against women and children, especially by those who are supposed to protect them. 

She believes in the power of all individuals to co-create an environment within which the justice system is affirmed and supported. 

MEC Vilakazi believes that we all have the responsibility, through our awareness, involvement, and through our caring for each other, to create communities that can defend the integrity and safety of everyone living in it.