South Africa’s Vice President David Mabuza has resigned his position after series of corruption allegations against him.
By his resignation, Mabuza clears the way for Paul Mashatile, the new deputy leader of the governing African National Congress, to succeed him.
Mabuza told an audience at a family funeral in the northeastern Mpumalanga province that he had informed President Cyril Ramaphosa of his resignation. Local redio station, Cape Talk radio read the news of his resignation from the incumbent administration.
Mabuza was linked to many scandals while serving as premier of Mpumalanga. He, however, denied all the allegations.
Bloomberg reports that while Ramaphosa can appoint any member of the National Assembly as his deputy, it has been an ANC tradition for the top two government posts to mirror its own. Mashatile, previously the ANC’s treasurer-general, is expected to be sworn in as a lawmaker on Feb. 6, a clear indication that he’s set to join the executive.
Ideally it is “the deputy president of the ANC who becomes deputy president of the country”, Fikile Mbalula, the ANC’s secretary general, told reporters last week.
Mashatile’s appointment, along with several other cabinet changes, are likely to be announced in coming days.
“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,” Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s spokesman, said in a text. “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 finalized.”
Mabuza, 62, was instrumental to Ramaphosa’s winning of the control of the ANC in late 2017, while securing the No. 2 party post for himself. Mashatile won the latter post at an ANC conference in December, after Mabuza failed to secure a single nomination from any of the party’s structures.
