This weekend saw outgoing deputy president David Mabuza confirm that he has resigned from his position. Mabuza was speaking at his brother’s funeral in Mpumalanga on Saturday where he said that he wants to make way for newly elected ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile. 

“At our conference last year I was not re-elected, Paul Mashatile was elected into the position of deputy president… Now I am making space for the incumbent ANC president,” the outgoing deputy president said. 

Not only did Mabuza not manage to be re-elected at the ANC’s 55th conference in December 2022, he also no longer occupies a seat in the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – the party’s highest decision-making body between conferences. 

However, presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya explained that Mabuza will only leave the position once they are done tying up all the loose ends pertaining to his imminent departure. He could not be drawn, however, on exactly when this would happen.

“Deputy President Mabuza has expressed his desire to step down from his position, following the outcome of the governing party’s leadership elections in December 2022. However, President Ramaphosa has requested the Deputy President to remain in his role until such time the modalities of his departure and transition have been finalised,” Magwenya explained.

[WATCH] Outgoing deputy president David Mabuza speaks about the looming cabinet reshuffle. He was speaking at his brother’s funeral. pic.twitter.com/5PMZ4MXGfR

— Queenin Masuabi (@Queenin_M) February 4, 2023

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Meanwhile, the ANC Parliamentary caucus has confirmed a Daily Maverick article published on Friday, stating that four ANC MPs would be sworn in on Monday. 

A statement issued on Sunday says that Mashatile, KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance MEC Sihle Zikalala, former Gauteng Economic Development MEC Parks Tau and ANC second deputy secretary-general Maropene Ramokgopa have been selected. 

Deputy President Paul Mashatile at the January 8 statement at Dr Molemela stadium in Mangaung Bloemfontein. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla/Daily Maverick

“The ANC Parliamentary Caucus is looking forward to welcoming the four members and leaders of the ANC who will take their oaths or affirmations as new MPs in the Speaker’s office at 12:00 on Monday 06 February 2023 … The ANC Caucus congratulates the four members and looks forward to benefiting from their tremendous skills, talents, and experience,” according to the statement issued by the office of the ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina.

Tshilidzi Munyai, Mervyn Dirks, Masefako Clarah Dikgale, and Matshidiso Mfikoe are the ANC members who have resigned to allow for the new candidates to be sworn in. Munyai and Mfikoe have been redeployed to the Gauteng legislature and have been sworn in as MPLs. t is expected that Tau, Zikalala and Ramokgopa will be deployed to ministerial posts. 

For now, there are two vacancies, that of Transport Minister and Public Service and Administration Minister.

ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula will no longer be Transport Minister as his new position at Luthuli House is a full-time one. The ministerial post in the Department of Public Service and Administration has been vacant since the departure in 2022 of Ayanda Dlodlo, who is now working for the World Bank.

It is likely that there will be ministers who will be booted out of Ramaphosa’s cabinet. Those who are at risk are senior members who were not elected into the NEC or even those who have defied the ANC or spoken harshly against the president.

Prominent ministers who did not make the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) list include Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor; Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane who is the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities.

National Assembly Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has also not been elected into the party’s highest decision-making body between conferences, which places her at risk of being booted out. 

Some insiders believe that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan is unlikely to face the chop despite not being elected to the ANC’s NEC. 

There is speculation that Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will be dropped from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet. Both have had their differences with the President. DM