Tribute to former deputy president

ENIGMA: ‘The Cat,’ DD Mabuza described as a committed to national campaign to improve education in the country 

By Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa

Many glowing tributes continue to pour in to honour and remember the late David Mabuza, former deputy President of the Republic of South Africa.

Most commentators, his comrades, and friends have focused mainly on his public life and his role as a prominent leader of the African National Congress—starting as a raw youth leader in the various branches of the ANC until his meteoric climb to the eminent position of deputy president of the Republic of South Africa. He was fondly nicknamed “The Cat” because of his Machiavellian style of managing politics.

I first met Mabuza after my appointment as deputy minister of education (before it was split into two —Basic and Higher Education).

My special role was to focus on a national campaign to improve the quality of learning and teaching. As could be expected, my first major outreach was a visit to Mpumalanga, my home province.

MEC David Mabuza graciously hosted my team. His provincial programme was meticulous. My mission was to promote a new syllabus based on a sophisticated methodology called Outcomes-Based Education. For DD, education was more than a job — it was a passion, indeed a calling, which cemented our relationship for years thereafter. Unlike other mundane pursuits, he also bolstered the ethical upbringing of school learners, laying a solid foundation for their future sense of good citizenship and ethical leadership. He meticulously planted a seed of moral growth and managed education as a vehicle for such development.

It therefore came as no surprise when, in his later career, our paths crossed again. He supported the Moral Regeneration Movement, which I headed, and continue to lead to this day. He did so during his premiership of Mpumalanga and later as deputy president. He demonstrated his commitment to quality education by building well-equipped boarding schools in Mpumalanga Province. That was the deeply humane and patriotic side of DD.

As my homeboy, I say, lala ngoxolo, Mkhaya. You laid your brick in the development and reconstruction of Mpumalanga Province — the land of the bright sons and daughters of Africa. Mabuza will be buried in Mpumalanga on Saturday.

•     Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa is a former deputy minister of education, a Catholic priest, and chairperson of the Moral Regeneration Movement