Deputy President David Mabuza’s political career in limbo?

With his home province of Mpumalanga having shifted its support to ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the December conference, Deputy President David Mabuza could have no choice but to throw his weight behind the president or bow out of politics.

Should the deputy president leave politics, his move would leave the party’s second in command position open for the taking come the 55th national conference.

Mabuza has always played his cards close to his chest, never revealing his next moves.

The election of new Mpumalanga chairperson Mandla Ndlovu, who is a Ramaphosa ally, has left Mabuza’s political footing in the province on shaky ground.

Mabuza’s ally, former provincial secretary Lucky Ndinisa, lost to Ndlovu who received 440 votes at the conference this past weekend. Ndinisa got 278 votes.

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The province is now in the hands of the RET (radical economic transformation) and a dominant Ramaphosa faction, said North West University (NWU) politics professor, Andre Duvenhage.

He said allegations of corruption and political killings continued to hang over Mabuza’s head, and that Ramaphosa wastes no time in sanctioning the tainted.

“I don’t see Mabuza succeeding politically or as deputy president again… from a legal perspective, many things are stacked against him, and he will be be sidelined.

“I think he will further opt to leave politics, if he doesn’t support Ramaphosa. If he does, he might end up in Luthuli House working for the party. At this point, the RET faction has no strong footing, I don’t see Mabuza supporting them.”

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Mabuza’s political chess moves earned him the nickname “The Cat” due to his shrewd maneuvering within the muddy ANC politics. During the reign of the “premier league” ahead of the 2017 Nasrec conference, Mabuza played the unity card, and surprised many when he emerged as deputy president.

He had been Mpumalanga ANC chairperson since 2008 until 2017.

Ramaphosa, said Duvenhage, won Mpumalanga because Mabuza’s power weakened over time in the province.

“He was seen as a powerful chairperson and premier during the time of the premier league, and had many convinced that his province would support Cyril’s opponent [Nkosazana] Dlamini-Zuma at Nasrec, and the opposite happened.

“But recently, his political career is uncertain, and that is why Ramaphosa won Mpumalanga’s support. I don’t see him re-elected as deputy president, and he knows this,” Duvenhage said.

Last year, media reports surfaced that Mabuza requested to be relieved of his duties at the Union Buildings and sent to work fulltime at Luthuli House. He reportedly wanted to run the secretary-general office, after the suspension of Ace Magashule, and the deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte having taken sick leave.

Mabuza’s request was reportedly thwarted by Ramaphosa and other top party leaders, with many seeing that as a plan by the deputy president to have unfettered access to ANC branches ahead of the national conference.

Mabuza denied he had asked to be moved to the party headquarters.

To strengthen the secretary-general office, ANC NEC member Gwen Ramokgopa was seconded to Luthuli House to help acting secretary-general Paul Mashatile, who is also the treasurer-general.

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