The Deputy President of South Africa is the second highest ranking officer of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa.
This person works closely with the President. The Deputy President's main job is to help the President run the country. The President can also give them special tasks or areas to focus on.
If the President is out of the country, or cannot do their job, the Deputy President steps in to help. Usually, the President chooses the Deputy President to be the Leader of Government Business in the Parliament of South Africa.
The Deputy President is a member of the National Assembly and the Cabinet.
The deputy president is constitutionally required to "assist the president in the execution of the functions of government", and may be assigned any government portfolio by presidential proclamation.
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The deputy president performs the duties of the president when the president is outside the country's borders, unable to fulfill the duties of the office, or when the presidency is vacant.
The President appoints the Deputy President from among the members of the NA.
The Deputy President's term begins upon appointment by the President.
The deputy president's term is ended by one of four constitutional mechanisms: dismissal by the president, a successful 'motion of no confidence in the president' by the National Assembly, a successful 'motion of no confidence excluding the president' by the National Assembly, or a newly elected president's assumption of office.
Historical Context
From 1994 to 1996, South Africa had a special "Government of National Unity." During this time, a member from the second-largest political party could also be a Deputy President.
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Under the interim constitution (valid from 1994 to 1996), there was a Government of National Unity, in which a member of parliament from the largest opposition party was entitled to a position as deputy president.
Along with Mbeki, the previous state president, F. W. de Klerk, also served as deputy president in his capacity as the leader of the National Party, then the second-largest party in the new parliament.
For example, F. W. de Klerk, who was the previous State President, served as Deputy President alongside Thabo Mbeki. De Klerk was the leader of the National Party, which was the second-largest party then. He later left this role.
De Klerk later resigned and went into opposition with his party.
In South Africa, presidents have flexibly varied the job description of the deputy president around the strengths of the incumbent, or the current needs of the presidency.
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As deputy president, former president FW de Klerk symbolised that his political constituency would not be entirely marginalised from state power after 1994.
Thabo Mbeki functioned as de facto prime minister during Nelson Mandela’s presidency, seeing to the day-to-day running of government.
Current Deputy President
South Africa has a new deputy president in Paul Shipokosa Mashatile, the deputy president of the governing African National Congress (ANC).
Mashatile holds a postgraduate diploma in Economic Principles from the University of London. He demonstrates competence and diligence in whatever post he holds. South Africa needs strategic leadership to weather its storms.
Mashatile’s commitment to political activism started as a schoolboy in the Congress of South African Students, an ANC-allied organisation for high school pupils. He later became the first president of the Alexandra Youth Congress, also allied to the ANC.
Ramaphosa’s concentration of power in a bloated presidency means that his deputy president could conceivably be tasked with any portfolio.
Mashatile’s disposition will serve him well in any role. He does not have the outbursts of ANC tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu, nor the over-the-top internet flamboyance of party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
So Paul Mashatile is in pole position to be appointed as the next deputy president of South Africa.
There are no substantiated charges against him of corruption - a serious problem in the ANC. Critics are fond of loose talk that he was a member of the “Alex mafia”, an informal network of political activists and business people from Alexandra, north of Johannesburg.
But the Gauteng integrity commissioner, Jules Browde, cleared him of any improprieties. Similarly, he was cleared of any wrong-doing concerning his alleged misuse of a government credit card.
The deputy presidency has become invisible during David Mabuza’s five years in office. Neither good news nor bad news has emanated from it.
Historically, the role of a deputy president was to be on standby in case a president died or was otherwise removed from his post. But the time has long gone when governments would pay the expenses of such an office solely for it to be a spare tyre.
He’ll replace the incumbent, David Mabuza, who announced he would step down.
Mashatile (61) is a veteran politician from the ANC, the party that has governed South Africa since democracy in 1994.
Mashatile has been continuously in party or state posts for 29 years. He brings gravitas to whichever post he occupies.
He represented the organisation at the launch in 1983 of the United Democratic Front, which provided a political home for “Charterists” while the ANC was still banned. The term refers to exponents of the Freedom Charter, the blueprint for free, democratic South Africa adopted by the ANC and allies in 1955.
Mashatile was detained without trial throughout the 1985-1989 states of emergency. These were the core years of President PW Botha’s repression during the closing years of a crumbling apartheid era.
After the 1990 unbanning of the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP), the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania and other liberation movements, Mashatile helped reestablish both the ANC and the SACP in the Johannesburg region.
During the 1990s Mashatile rose to become provincial secretary of the ANC in Gauteng province, and provincial chair during the 2000s.
In 1994 he was elected as a member of the provincial legislature and leader of the house in Gauteng. He became in turn a member of the executive committee for transport and public works, next for safety and security, then human settlements, then finance and economic affairs.
From 2010 to 2016 he was a member of parliament, when he served as minister of arts and culture.
He became an opponent of then South African president Jacob Zuma’s alleged corruption. In 2017 he was elected as treasurer-general of the ANC, and added to that in 2022 the role of acting secretary-general.
A strong incumbent can shape the role, although it is partially dependent on the president’s actions.
Neither good news nor bad news has emanated from it.
Incumbent Paul Mashatile since 7 March 2023
Official Residences
The Deputy President has official homes in different cities:
- Oliver Tambo House in Pretoria
- Highstead in Cape Town
- Dr John L. Dube House in Durban
The Deputy President does not have a set time limit for how long they can serve. Their term starts when the President chooses them. The Deputy President often takes on other important roles, depending on their relationship with the President.
Accountability and Oversight
The South African Constitution attaches no special privilege to any member of either the executive, the judiciary or the legislature. They are all subjected to it in equal measure. That is why South Africa is often referred to as a constitutional democracy. The Constitution reigns supreme above anyone and everything else.
It is a blueprint of the South African law-making processes, it influences how such laws should be enforced and how the executive implements legislation.
As a result, the President and the Deputy President are often required to appear before Parliament to give account to matters arising from issues related to their implementation of national legislation. This is in accordance with Section 92 of our Constitution.
It further states that this is to ensure that they act in accordance with the Constitution and provide Parliament with full and regular reports concerning matters under their control.
According to Rule 210 of the National Assembly, the President must at least once every quarter appear before the National Assembly to answer questions arising from his executive authority or the implementation of legislation by the executive members of his Cabinet. Whenever the President appears before the National Assembly during question time, he or she does so to give effect to this rule.
But most importantly, this is one of the mechanisms that Parliament utilises to give effect to its oversight mandate over the President and Cabinet Members.
Section 92 of the Constitution and question time of Rule 210 of the National Assembly are at the heart of our constitutional democracy and its culture of accountability.
Of all, the question time has proven to be the most effective mechanism of accountability and through it South African citizens get to see Parliament’s oversight mandate in action. Symbolically, it has also given effect to the supremacy of our Constitution over every South African citizen, irrespective of his or her status.
Appearance of the President and his Deputy before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to answer questions or for national address to the NCOP, is determined by the programming committee of the NCOP.
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