Servant leader: Oscar Mabuyane says he has done all he can for the
Eastern Cape. Photo: Oupa Nkosi
Eastern Cape ANC chair Oscar Mabuyane will avail himself for a third term at the provincial conference scheduled for May, despite speculation that he will be moved to national politics, where he will probably contest the party’s deputy president position.
Mabuyane, regarded as a strongman in his province, lost to Paul Mashatile as deputy president at the ANC’s 2022 national elective conference.
The Eastern Cape had resolved that Mabuyane be elevated to national level and would demand the deputy president post from any slate wanting to form a working relationship before the 2027 national conference, insiders told the Mail & Guardian.
“Abamunike into yakhe uDiya (Let them give Mabuyane his thing),” one source said.
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula, Mashatile and businessman Patrice Motsepe were among the names mentioned as possible presidential candidates.
Mabuyane downplayed his influence in the province to the M&G, saying no one had approached him to form a working relationship for the 2027 national elections.
He said that if branches had seen him fit to do so at the last conference, there would be no reason for him to refuse to contest the deputy presidency.
“No one has brought anything like that to me but the only thing I know is that I was a candidate. I lost last time and I will wait for branches at the right time when the ANC says we can go for lobbying. The structures of the ANC will decide and I will be able to make up my mind,” he said.
“Right now I am just focused on the work that the ANC has given me — to stabilise the province and consolidate it amid all the challenges that we have.”
Last week, a Gauteng provincial task team member told the M&G that the Eastern Cape would play a pivotal role in determining who won in 2027, depending on who was able to fulfil what they said was Mabuyane’s demand for the deputy president position.
“They (the ANC in the Eastern Cape) come in huge numbers and KZN is not significant anymore because there are no existing structures there,” they said.
With branch nominations having begun in the Eastern Cape this week, Mabuyane confirmed that he would be willing to stand for a third term as provincial chair if he was nominated for the position he had occupied since 2017, when he defeated Phumulo Masualle.
However, some people argue that a third Mabuyane term would undermine leadership renewal and succession planning. Some party members and structures have warned that extended tenures risked entrenching divisions and intensifying internal contestation, particularly in a province that had experienced prolonged factional disputes.
ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi told the M&G earlier in January that he would be willing to lead the party in the province if branches nominated him for the position of chairperson.
Ngcukayitobi said he would not publicly discuss competing ambitions in the provincial leadership, including those of leaders who had indicated availability for further terms. Leadership questions, he said, should be resolved through ANC processes rather than individual declarations.
Mabuyane said he had done all he could for the Eastern Cape, saying the province had gained momentum and was moving forward.
“That third term doesn’t mean that I must be a demagogue in the Eastern Cape. Leadership comes and goes and I don’t think I should stretch that far. A good dancer is one who knows when to leave the stage. I think the time for the next generation to take over the province is now,” he said.
Responding to suggestions that the province would prefer Ngcukayitobi as chair while he moved to national leadership, Mabuyane said he had not heard that formally.
“I have not heard it from the branches but I’ve heard it from the media and groups of influencers tweeting about it. We have not yet discussed it,” he said.
“We will only know when nominations take place. We are set to start our BGMs [branch general meetings] in a week’s time and when they begin rolling out, it will be very clear what the way forward is.”