THE office of the presidency has confirmed the resignation of Deputy President David Mabuza, but President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected it.
According to Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vicent Magwenya, the president has asked Mabuza to remain in his position until such time as the modalities around his departure were finalised.
This comes after Mabuza made a shocking public revelation at his brother’s funeral service in Mpumalanga on Saturday, 4 February, that he had resigned as the country’s second in command.
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Mabuza told the mourners the president would make the announcement in due course.
Mabuza, who was not present at the Party’s 111th anniversary and could not attend the first Cabinet Lekgotla of 2023, raised eyebrows with many people wondering if he was still part of the cabinet. Reports of his resignations were dismissed last week, by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
Mabuza told the mourners that he and the president had an agreement.
He further said he promised to respect the president until he left, and he had done so.
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“I hope that those who are coming in will also respect the president,” he said.
Mabuza, who was not elected at the ANC’s conference in December, told the mourners a new deputy president of the party, Paul Mashatile, was elected, and he needed to give him space to work.
“I am making space for the one elected at the conference because I can see he is also making a few moves. So now I am also in a rush to give them space. I spoke to the president and told him I would step down,” he said.
On Sunday, Magwenya said: “Deputy President Mabuza has expressed his desire to step down from his position following the outcomes of the governing party’s leadership elections in December.”
Reacting to the resignation, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said they viewed his resignation as strange in the sense that he announced his resignation at a family funeral.
“It is somewhat strange because usually the president of the Republic of South Africa would, under normal circumstances, confirm and announce his deputy’s resignation from office through official government channels, taking the nation into his confidence,” said ACDP Deputy President, Wayne Thring.
He said they understood that there had been talks of a cabinet reshuffle that President Ramaphosa may be instituting, because of Mashatile being elected as Deputy President of the ANC, however, the announcement of the Mabuza’s resignation should have been done by President Ramaphosa through official government channels.
