Chupu Stanley Mathabatha (born 21 January 1957) is a South African politician who is currently the
Premier of Limpopo
The Premier of Limpopo is the head of government of Limpopo province of South Africa. The current Premier of Limpopo is Stanley Mathabatha, a member of the African National Congress, who was appointed in July 2013. He took office on 18 July 201 ...
. He was elected to the position in July 2013 after the resignation of
Cassel Mathale. He was previously a public servant in
Limpopo province
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...
and from 2012 to 2013 completed a brief stint as a diplomat, serving as
South African Ambassador to Ukraine under President
Jacob Zuma.
A former member of
Umkhonto we Sizwe and the
United Democratic Front, Mathabatha was elected the
Provincial Chairperson of the
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
(ANC) in Limpopo in February 2014. He was elected to a third four-year term as ANC Provincial Chairperson in June 2022. He is also a member of the
Central Committee of the
South African Communist Party
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...
.
Early life and education
Chupu Stanley Mathabatha was born on 21 January 1957. He is from the
Sekhukhune region of what is now the
Limpopo province
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...
of South Africa; at the time of Mathabatha's birth, during
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
, it was part of the
Transvaal province
The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...
.
He has a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from the
University of the Western Cape
The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...
and a Master's degree in
development
Development or developing may refer to:
Arts
*Development hell, when a project is stuck in development
*Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting
*Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped
* Photograph ...
from the
University of Limpopo
The University of Limpopo is a university in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2005, by the merger of the University of the North and the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA). These previous institutions form ...
.
He also attended an Executive Management Development Programme at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 2003.
Anti-apartheid activism
In his youth, Mathabatha became involved in
anti-apartheid activism in the Northern Transvaal, particularly in Motetema, a
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
in the
Lebowa
Lebowa was a bantustan ("homeland") located in the Transvaal in northeastern South Africa. Seshego initially acted as Lebowa's capital while the purpose-built Lebowakgomo was being constructed. Granted internal self-government on 2 October ...
bantustan
A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now ...
on the outskirts of
Grobersdal.
In 1977, in the aftermath of the
Soweto uprising, he joined
Umkhonto weSizwe, the underground armed wing of the
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
(ANC).
In the 1980s, he was active in the
United Democratic Front (UDF);
according to
News24, he worked closely with
Peter Mokaba
Peter Mokaba, OLG (7 January 1959 – 9 June 2002) was a member of the South African parliament, deputy minister in the government of Nelson Mandela and president of the South African governing party's youth wing, the ANC Youth League. The P ...
, whom he later described as a "revered comrade", and with Frans Mohlala.
He was also a member of the Motetema Youth Congress; of the Northern Transvaal Youth Congress; and of an ANC-aligned youth group known as the Young Lions of the North, which also included
Cassel Mathale and others.
When the apartheid government unbanned the ANC and other political parties in 1990, Mathabatha helped establish the party's structures in the Northern Transvaal, becoming Treasurer of the Northern Transvaal region of the ANC in 1992.
According to News24, he was also a member of the
South African Communist Party
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...
(SACP) and helped the SACP establish its branches in the region.
Career in government
Public administration: 1994–2010
After South Africa's
first democratic election in 1994, Limpopo province (initially called Northern province) was formed in a merger of the governments of three former bantustans – Lebowa,
Venda
Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the ...
, and
Gazankulu – with part of the government of the former Transvaal. Mathabatha entered the
public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...
sector, working in 1994 as the technical advisor to Limpopo's
Member of the Executive Council
In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...
for Finance and Economic Development.
In subsequent years he remained in the Limpopo provincial Department of Finance and Economic Development, becoming General Manager of the Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprise Directorate by 2003.
In March 2003, he was appointed
chief operations officer
A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...
of the Limpopo Economic Development Enterprise (LimDev), a state-owned development agency whose primary mandate was to provide
development finance to small businesses in Limpopo. He became the agency's
managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
in 2005.
Ambassadorship: 2012–2013
Mathabatha left Limdev in 2010 to prepare to take up an
ambassadorship. The ''
Mail & Guardian
The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cult ...
'' reported in 2011 that he was undergoing diplomatic training and would be nominated to head South Africa's mission to
Guinea-Conakry
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
, but in 2012 President
Jacob Zuma appointed him ambassador to Ukraine, in which capacity he was also
non-resident ambassador to Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova.
Premier of Limpopo: 2013–2022
In July 2013, the ANC asked
Cassel Mathale to resign as
Premier of Limpopo
The Premier of Limpopo is the head of government of Limpopo province of South Africa. The current Premier of Limpopo is Stanley Mathabatha, a member of the African National Congress, who was appointed in July 2013. He took office on 18 July 201 ...
, and the ANC-controlled
Limpopo Provincial Legislature
The Limpopo Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Limpopo.
It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet, the Limpopo Executive Council, from among the ...
elected Mathabatha to replace him. He was sworn in as Premier on 18 July. In the ''
Citizen''
's account, Mathabatha returned to South Africa after being "head-hunted" by President Zuma as a successor to Mathale.
The ''
Business Day
A business day means any day except any Saturday, any Sunday, or any day which is a legal holiday or any day on which banking institutions are authorized or required by law or other governmental action to close.
The definition of a business day ...
'' said that Mathabatha was seen as "neutral" in the
factional battles in the Limpopo ANC, and the provincial branch of the
Congress of South African Trade Unions
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union expelled, ...
welcomed his appointment. The day after he took office, Mathabatha announced a major reshuffle in his
Executive Council: he fired eight of Mathale's ten
Members of the Executive Council (MECs).
Mathabatha was re-elected Premier after the
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
general elections. His second full term as Premier, the last he is constitutionally
permitted to serve, will end in 2024 when the
next general election is called.
Rise in the ANC
Provincial chairperson: 2014–2022
In February 2014, several months after his appointment as Premier, Mathabatha was elected
Provincial Chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo. Jerry Ndou was elected as his deputy. He was re-elected unopposed in June 2018;
Florence Radzilani replaced Ndou as Deputy Provincial Chairperson. At the provincial party's next elective conference in June 2022,
Dickson Masemola, who had formerly been Deputy Provincial Chairperson under Cassel Mathale, launched a challenge to Mathabatha's incumbency.
In the election, however, Mathabatha easily secured a third term as Provincial Chairperson, winning 781 votes to Masemola's 389.
All the top leadership positions were won by candidates who had run on a Mathabatha-aligned
slate – including Radzilani, who was re-elected his deputy.
While Provincial Chairperson, Mathabatha was perceived as a strong supporter of
Cyril Ramaphosa
Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician who is currently serving as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and ...
, who also grew up in Limpopo. He was a key ally of Ramaphosa's successful campaign for election to the ANC presidency at the ANC's
54th National Conference in 2017,
and was among the first ANC leaders publicly to pronounce support for Ramaphosa's re-election to a second term at the
55th National Conference in 2022:
in January of that year, he praised Ramaphosa as a "son of the soil" and for having "brought the new dawn into the organisation
he ANC.
Mathabatha is also a member of the ANC's
Tripartite Alliance
The Tripartite Alliance is an alliance between the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). The ANC holds a majority in the South African parliament, while ...
partner, the
South African Communist Party
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...
(SACP). In July 2022, he was elected to a second five-year term as a member of the
SACP Central Committee.
Bid for national chair: 2022
Also in the run-up to the 55th National Conference, Mathabatha emerged as a serious competitor to incumbent ANC National Chairperson,
Gwede Mantashe
Samson Gwede Mantashe, popularly known as Gwede Mantashe, (born 21 June 1955) is a South African politician and trade unionist, who as of 18 December 2017, serves as the National Chairperson of the African National Congress. He is also a former ...
, who sought re-election to the post. When the national ANC released the list of nominations in November 2022, Mathabatha appeared to be the frontrunner for the National Chairperson position, having secured the support of a majority of local ANC branches in the provinces of Limpopo,
KwaZulu-Natal, and the
North West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
. An anonymous source told the ''Business Day'' that Mathabatha had sought re-election to the Provincial Chairperson position partly in order to bolster his campaign to gain a leadership position in the national ANC.
Controversy
Mathabatha has been accused of
regionalism and
tribalism
Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civ ...
. Most prominently, this accusation was made in 2018 by
Penny Penny
Eric Kulani Giyani Nkovani (born 1962), better known by his stage names Penny Penny and Papa Penny is a South African musician and politician, known affectionately as the " Shangaan Disco King" for the musical style he helped popularise.
He was ...
, a
Tsonga entertainer and local councillor who at the time was mounting an unsuccessful bid to oust Mathabatha from the ANC provincial chair. Penny Penny claimed, among other things, that none of Mathabatha's MECs were
Shangaan
Soshangana KaZikode (), born Soshangana Nxumalo, was the Founder and the Monarch of the Gaza Empire, which at the height of its power stretched from the Limpopo river in southern Mozambique up to the Zambezi river in the north. Soshangana rule ...
-speaking.
In 2020, the ''Citizen'' printed, without attribution, the claim that Mathabatha had displayed a regionalist or
nepotist
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
bias in appointing five people from his home region, Sekhukhune, to senior management positions in his office.
Mathabatha denied the accusation on both occasions.
Personal life
Mathabatha lives in the village of Tooseng in Ga-Mphahlele in Limpopo. His wife is Margaret Mathabatha, who has three children.
She was born in
Pretoria, Gauteng
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...
and was formerly a teacher and civil servant.
In 2018, there was a mild scandal concerning a voice recording which reportedly recorded Mathabatha confessing romantic feelings towards Florence Radzilani, his deputy in the ANC.
References
External link
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathabatha, Stanley
1957 births
Living people
University of the Western Cape alumni
University of Limpopo alumni
UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel
African National Congress politicians
Members of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature