Entrusting the deputy president with ministerial responsibilities would benefit South Africa — it would either prepare them for when they take over the top post, as history shows they probably will, or it would expose them as incompetent, demonstrating their unworthiness for the presidency.
It is a position both powerful and meaningless: according to section 91(5) of the constitution, the role is to assist the president in his or her work. The amount of power and responsibility entrusted to deputy presidents, in South Africa and elsewhere, depends on the political and personal relationship between the head of the country’s cabinet and the person they appoint, or feel compelled to appoint, to the deputy presidency.
It is quite clear that President Cyril Ramaphosa, if he had had his way, would have selected someone other than Paul Mashatile for the job. Mashatile won the ANC deputy presidency against two Ramaphosa-backed candidates, justice minister Ronald Lamola and Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane. Now, in the time-honoured convention of the party deputy president also being made deputy president in the government, Mashatile has been appointed to succeed David Mabuza.
Statistics show Mashatile will probably be the next president. Provided the ANC wins the elections next year, he would have a 60%-80% chance of becoming president of the republic by 2027 or early 2028: all but one of the ANC’s deputy presidents — Mabuza — have gone on to hold the presidency. Kgalema Motlanthe has the unusual distinction of having been (caretaker) president before becoming deputy president of the ANC and the country.
Where Mashatile stands apart, however, is in his history of ministerial experience. So far, the country has been led by presidents who never served as a minister first, because the route to the top has run through the deputy presidency of the party and of the country. Motlanthe did serve a two-month stint as minister in the Presidency, from July to September of 2008.
This is not to say the deputy presidency cannot be a useful training ground for a future president. The problem is that it has rarely been used this way.
Under Mandela, Thabo Mbeki was hugely empowered as deputy president — he essentially served as head of the government while Mandela was for the most part a national figurehead
Under president Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki was hugely empowered as deputy president — he essentially served as head of the government while Mandela was for the most part a national figurehead. Other presidential relationships have been less trusting: Zuma and Mbeki, Zuma and Ramaphosa, and most recently Ramaphosa and Mabuza. Apart from Mbeki’s tenure, the deputy presidency is best described as a “ministry for special projects”, the projects often already being under the wing of an existing ministry. For Mabuza it was HIV/Aids, for Ramaphosa it was the Eskom “war room” and state-owned enterprises, and for Zuma it was missions to other parts of the continent to mediate in conflicts. Even the lofty-sounding title of “leader of government business in parliament” does not entail much work beyond the deputy president submitting the government’s legislative programme to parliament.
The longer history of executive power in South Africa shows precisely this mixed pattern. In the 1920s, deputy prime minister Tielman Roos and prime minister Barry Hertzog (both of the National Party) had a difficult relationship, with Roos often contradicting his boss’s policy and political stance in public; on the other hand, Jan Smuts and his trusted lieutenant Jannie Hofmeyr had a mutually respectful and trusting relationship in the 1940s.
In the democratic era, in accordance with the constitution, the deputy president is first in line for the presidency, and automatically fills in if the president is out of the country, is incapacitated or is forced from office. I have made the argument that current practice does not adequately prepare a deputy president for the top job. Politics should be put aside and the deputy president should be given more responsibilities. Indeed, it is worth seriously considering a new convention that would see a deputy president being given a ministerial portfolio of his or her own to run, alongside being deputy president.
Such an arrangement is not without historical precedent or global parallel today. For example, Roos was minister of justice, while Hofmeyr was minister of both finance and education. Today, the deputy prime ministers of Canada and the UK hold the portfolios of finance and of justice respectively. In his first term, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was even his own minister of youth and of intergovernmental affairs.
This double appointment accomplishes a number of things: it signals priority areas for an administration, it allows for hands-on leadership and — more importantly — it prevents either the president or the president-in-waiting from hiding their incompetence behind ministers. At election time, voters would have far greater insight into these candidates’ abilities.
The past 29 years demonstrate that all South African political parties, including those in opposition, should take succession more seriously. One phenomenon that should be tolerated, and even formalised, is slates, at least at the level of president and deputy president. Party leaders should be able to run on a single “ticket” with their preferred successors, so party delegates, and by extension voters, can deliver their verdict on the full package. This in turn will make it easier for a president to delegate more responsibilities to their deputies. Factionalism is a permanent feature of politics, and it is incongruous for presidents to have ideological or political rivals as their deputies.
* Ndzendze is an associate professor and head of the University of Johannesburg’s department of politics & international relations. He is leading a research study on the full scope of the executive powers of the president.
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