Political analyst Dr Levy Ndou says the resignation of Deputy President David Mabuza has been expected for some time. Mabuza made the announcement at a family funeral in Mpumalanga on Saturday.
He asserts he informed President Cyril Ramaphosa of his resignation as Deputy President of South Africa.
At the African National Congress National Conference in December, Paul Mashatile succeeded Mabuza as the party’s Deputy President.
Ndou explains, “This was coming. I’m sure that a lot of people are not surprised. Mabuza has not been elected to the highest decision body of the ANC and with the alignment of the ANC one had to expect such to happen. My suspicion is that there could have been a number of discussions that were taking place between the ANC and Mabuza based on the fact that Mabuza has actually saved the President’s political life.”
Ndou has added that Mabuza played a crucial role in Ramaphosa’s ascension to power as President of South Africa.
“In 2017, he came with the project in the ANC, and just in the last minute of voting Mabuza convinced the Mpumalanga province to vote for Cyril Ramaphosa. Even last month at the ANC conference it was Mabuza who chose not to contest any other position even though he was nominated because, in the view of many people, he wanted unity to be the order of the day in the ANC. I believe he is leaving his office with dignity because others would have been pushed out but Mabuza chose not to do so.”
Cabinet reshuffle is on the horizon
Political analyst Ongama Mtinka says President Cyril Ramaphosa should bring to his cabinet new politicians with a vision of bringing solutions to South Africans instead of a cabinet reshuffle.
The New ANC MPs give Ramaphosa greenlight to reshuffle the Cabinet before SONA. Ramaphosa won a second term as leader of the ANC late last year, and his allies have since secured most posts in the NEC and other top party leadership structures.
Mtinka says politicians marred with scandals and factionalism have nothing to offer South Africans. “My hope is that new energy is diffused in the cabinet by getting rid of especially the people who have been there since the 1990s because they got nothing left to offer SA. Even the best of that group cannot offer anything further so what the president should do then is to position a new group of politicians that is new to govt that will help them gain a good profile to become the next contenders for the leadership of the party come 2027.”
Analysis from Dr Ongama Mtimka:
‘High-performance cabinet’
Meanwhile, political analyst Professor Sandile Swana says the resignation of David Mabuza as the country’s Deputy President puts more pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to reshuffle his cabinet.
“The pressure Ramaphosa has now is very different to say can you put a high-performance cabinet together that can restore the dignity of the liberation movement as a high-performance organisation. People like Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Sisulu, especially Lindiwe Sisulu have no track record of good performance, secondly, both of them have no legs to stand on.”
