Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica will not retire from politics after the general election in April next year, despite the ruling ANC having omitted her from its national executive committee (NEC) and national working committee (NWC), she said on Monday.

What she would do after the election would depend on what the party wanted, she said.

"These matters are dependent on the party," Sonjica (58) said in an interview on the sidelines of the Electricity Maintenance and Distribution summit in Midrand.

However, she made it clear that she would not be leaving politics.

"I'm not about to retire," asserted Sonjica, who had served in her Ministry since May 2006, when President Thabo Mbeki shuffled his Cabinet.

Previously, she was Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry.

"If the ANC wants to redeploy me, wherever, it doesn't have to be in government," Sonjica said.

"But I'm ready to serve it in any capacity, even if that capacity means that I stay in my house and serve the ANC from there," she added.

"I have no intention of retiring," reiterated Sonjica.

NEW GUARD

The ruling party's leadership was shaken up at its Polokwane conference, held in December last year, when its now president Jacob Zuma defeated Thabo Mbeki, who also failed to make the NEC or NWC lists, along with a string of former senior party officials that were loyal to him.

Since then, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin has announced his retirement from politics after the election.

Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri would also likely retire next year, Bloomberg News reported on June 3, quoting her.