The Presidency has announced that Deputy President, David Mabuza, officially ended his term on Wednesday morning. This news comes after his request to President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down, which Ramaphosa mentioned in his State of the Nation Address on 16 February.
Mabuza has had a lengthy political career and has served as the Deputy President of South Africa since February 2018. Previously, he was the Premier of Mpumalanga between 2009 and 2018 and the ANC provincial chairperson in Mpumalanga from 2008 to 2017.
Mabuza is said to have sent a letter to Parliament on Tuesday confirming that he is stepping down. This comes before Ramaphosa's expected cabinet reshuffle.
No announcement has been made about when this reshuffle will take place, but speculation has been circling over the past few weeks. Presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said that the announcement would come “in a matter of days”.
Ramaphosa has a number of vacant positions that need to be filled, as well as the appointment of a minister of electricity in an attempt to avoid the long anticipated "state of disaster" caused by the worst bout of power outages the country has experienced to date.
"The Deputy President has undertaken the responsibilities of his office with dedication. I am grateful for the support he has provided to me throughout his term and for the leadership he has provided to the work of Government,” said President Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa will make an announcement regarding a new deputy president shortly. Currently the country has no deputy president.
