Nomusa Dube-Ncube's remarkable return to the national Cabinet as deputy minister

Former KwaZulu-Natal premier Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s political career appears to be on the rise again following her appointment to the national Cabinet as Higher Education and Training deputy minister.

After dismissing Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, the troubled minister of Higher Education and Training, on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa once again looked outside the National Assembly for a replacement.

Buti Manamela, who had been the deputy minister for the same department for years, was promoted to the full ministerial portfolio for the first time in his life and was announced alongside Dube-Ncube.

She was also appointed to chair one of the Sector Education and Training Authority boards; however, after revelations that Nkabane had lied about the independence of the panel, her name and other ANC members were withdrawn.

Dube-Ncube, with her vast governance experience, was almost written off politically when the ANC, under Siboniso Duma and Bheki Mtolo as chairperson and secretary, respectively, placed her at number 31 on the party’s members list to the provincial legislature last year.

This meant that if she made it back to the legislature, she would have moved from the front row to the back seat of the chamber, let alone not even getting a Cabinet position. Although not guaranteed, MEC positions are usually allocated to the top 10 list members.

The first-ever woman premier of the province was also not on the province’s national list, which would have taken her to Parliament at least as a backbencher.

With ANC getting only 14 seats after last year’s general elections, Dube-Ncube went into political wilderness until the national party leadership reconfigured the provincial executive committee, removing both Mtolo and Duma from their positions of power.

She was appointed to the provincial task team’s top five, taking the deputy coordinator’s position, which is equivalent to the deputy secretary’s. 

Dube-Ncube, who had served in several departments as an MEC, was appointed to the premiership after Sihle Zikalala resigned following his political defeat by Duma in a chairmanship contest in 2022; however, rumours of her ill-treatment emerged.

There have been rumours of a rift between her and ANC KZN chairperson Duma, and people have been accusing the ANC chairperson of being a shadow premier of the province.

The big outcry, which saw the ANC Women’s League intervene, was during the World Cup tour in Durban when the Springboks’ Eben Etzebeth lifted the Webb Ellis Cup with Duma, instead of the premier, as the programme director had announced.

In a hard-hitting statement issued then, the Women’s League lambasted Duma, calling on the leaders to uphold the values of non-sexism and gender equality.

The league said gender equality was not an ideal but a fundamental principle that the ANC identifies with, saying the actions of Duma demonstrated a regrettable departure from this essential value.

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