David Dabede Mabuza, who died this week at the age of 64, may be credited with rescuing South Africa from falling over a precipice, but he was not always regarded as a hero.
Politicians and other prominent figures have been queueing up to sing praises to the former deputy president, exalting his role in the struggle for a better education system both in his capacity as a unionist as well as the first education MEC in Mpumalanga.
The greatest tribute paid to him, of course, has been that when the republic seemed destined for a new decade under the Gupta-Zuma kleptocracy, “The Cat” — as Mabuza was called — outplayed Jacob Zuma at his own game, switching sides at the last minute and handing the ANC and the keys to the Union Buildings to current President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This was in December 2017 at the ANC national conference, where Zuma’s controversial two-terms as party leader were to come to an end. To prolong their syndicate’s power and influence over the party and state, Zuma and the Guptas threw in their lot with the campaign to elect ANC and government veteran Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the next president. She was to stand against Ramaphosa, Zuma’s deputy at the time.
Mabuza, an Mpumalanga premier and an influential ANC provincial chair at the time, was on the Dlamini-Zuma slate for the position of deputy president. He was to stand against Lindiwe Sisulu, a seasoned government minister who had served in the state since 1994.
Though the consensus was that Ramaphosa enjoyed more public support because his ascendancy to power would mark an end to what some saw as an attempt to build a Gupta-Zuma dynasty, no-one was certain how the ANC structures would vote.
With two weeks going to the conference, most party provinces had Ramaphosa as their preferred candidate but the Dlamini-Zuma slate appeared to have the upper hand, in that the two provinces with the most voting delegates were KwaZulu-Natal and Mabuza’s Mpumalanga.
As the campaigning heated up, Mabuza exhibited signs of being a reluctant participant — failing to appear at important meetings organised for the slate.
Where he did make appearances, he “spoke in tongues” — as a frustrated Dlamini-Zuma put it after one Mpumalanga gathering — calling for delegates to “vote for unity”.
Zuma lobbyists remained optimistic, saying Mabuza was merely keeping with his reputation as “the cat” who used all sorts of political tricks to survive.
But just hours before actual voting started, Mabuza finally played his hand, telling a caucus meeting of the Mpumalanga delegates to “vote with your conscience” — interpreted as an instruction to vote for Ramaphosa.
When the results came out, Zuma’s world came crashing down while he watched Ramaphosa and Mabuza holding hands in jubilation and as a sign of “unity”. What followed was the rapid collapse of the Saxonwold-based empire, though the jury is still out on whether the whole exercise really rescued the country from corporate capture of the state.
What was to become clear in the subsequent months and years was that the whole scheme had been cooked up by Mabuza and his friend, and current deputy president, Paul Mashatile, at the many meetings the two held at Mabuza’s Bryanston house in the run up to the conference.
Their conspiracy had not only secured Ramaphosa the presidency but had guaranteed the two of them seats in the powerful ANC Top 6 — with Mabuza as the deputy president and Mashatile as treasurer-general — hence putting them in a great position to inherit a post-Ramaphosa ANC.
Outside Mabuza’s home this week, Mashatile told a group of journalists that, days before the conference, Mabuza had intimated to some who had come to find out who he’d vote for that “ngizofa la uPaul efa khona”. Loosely translated, he told them he’d take whatever direction Mashatile would take.
That many have now chosen to see the episode as an act of heroism on Mabuza’s part — and not as a well-thought out move to secure his own political future — perhaps boils down to the South African propensity to make gallant heroes of the dead.
Mabuza was one of the earliest cadres to go into government after the collapse of apartheid and the advent of democracy. The National Education Crisis Committee (NECC), of which he was a coordinator, trade unions and other structures aligned to the ANC lobbied hard for then Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa to appoint Mabuza as an MEC.
That many have now chosen to see the episode as an act of heroism on Mabuza’s part — and not as a well-thought out move to secure his own political future — perhaps boils down to the South African propensity to make gallant heroes of the dead.
The premier then appointed him education MEC. Phosa had to fire him three years later, however, amid a scandal involving the provincial government manipulating the 1998 matric results to make the MEC look great.
It was one of the earliest scandals that were to earn the province the moniker of “Mamparalanga” — due to its regular appearances on this newspaper’s front page and the Mampara column for corruption.
A year later, Mabuza was back in favour, now serving under new provincial premier Ndaweni Mahlangu as housing MEC. After a provincial cabinet reshuffle in 2001, he was redeployed to the National Assembly as a back bencher. It was here where he is believed to have started to build a national network that would later turn him into a significant power broker within the party.
Though his power seemed to have waned when he lost the race to become ANC provincial secretary in 2002, he reversed the setback when he secured the post of provincial deputy chairperson in 2005.
It was as deputy chairperson that Mabuza quietly turned Mpumalanga — up to that point a safe power base for then president Thabo Mbeki — into a Zuma stronghold.
This was at a crucial time, when the ruling party was preparing for the 2007 Polokwane conference — where Zuma was to challenge Mbeki for power.
Zuma won, and a year later, Mabuza beat rival Lassy Chiwayo to become Mpumalanga ANC chair — a stepping stone to being provincial premier.
Within a year of becoming premier, Mabuza was embroiled in a controversy that was to propel him to national prominence, making him a poster boy for provincial strongmen who had taken power under Zuma and were not afraid to use it to crush dissent.
Journalists Mzi wa Afrika and Charles Molele were investigating a corruption story involving the construction of a 2010 World Cup stadium in Mbombela which had led to the death of Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala.
There were claims Mohlala’s killing was a hit ordered by powerful politicians in the province and that a number of other individuals, including Chiwayo, were on a hit list.
After a couple of such stories, police officers arrived at the Sunday Times’ then Rosebank offices, with sirens blaring, to arrest Wa Afrika. The newspaper had to approach the Pretoria high court to have the reporter released the next day.
It was later to transpire that the arrest followed the laying of a complaint by Mabuza against the reporter. This was linked to a fake letter faxed anonymously to the Sunday Times and purporting to be official correspondence between Mabuza and Zuma, announcing the latter’s resignation from government. Though the Sunday Times had not published the story because it found the letter suspicious, it was Wa Afrika who ended up being arrested on spurious conspiracy charges.
The case was dropped and, some six years later, Mabuza and Wa Afrika held a reconciliation meeting at Mabuza’s official residence in Mpumalanga.
Since that drama, there were many allegations levelled at Mabuza that never stuck, including the claim that R4m in cash had been stolen from his farm in Barberton. Police were to later revise down the figure to R1,400.
In 2015 he disappeared from the political scene amid rumours of ill-health. About 50 days later, he arrived at his offices and immediately held an impromptu staff rally in which he was to make the memorable statement, “the cat is back”, sealing his status as a political cat with nine lives.
He was to later tell the Sowetan that he had “let my guard down” during his birthday party, resulting in his “poisoning”.
“There were snacks on the table. I had tea and later had lunch. After eating, my energy levels were down. My body was extra hot. Since that day, my health deteriorated until I was admitted at Mediclinic Nelspruit Hospital (Mbombela).”
His comrades were to later lobby Zuma to arrange for him to be taken to Russia for treatment. He was flown on a Gupta jet, accompanied by Zuma’s favourite son, Duduzane.
Over the years, Mabuza strenuously denied having close ties to the Guptas and has privately claimed to some of his comrades that it was precisely Zuma’s refusal to break ties with the family which made him turn against the former president.
As the country’s deputy president, Mabuza had little effect as he had lost his Zuma-aligned Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction within the ANC while, at the same time, not enjoying the trust of Ramaphosa’s inner circle.
At the 2022 conference, Mabuza failed to get re-elected and his friend Mashatile succeeded him as party deputy president.
Two months later, Mabuza stepped down from his government — marking an end to an enigmatic political career.
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