Stan Mathabatha

Chupu Stanley Mathabatha was born on 21 January 1957.' He is from the Sekhukhune region of what is now the Limpopo province of South Africa;' at the time of Mathabatha's birth, during apartheid, it was part of the Transvaal province. He has a Bachelor's degree from the University of the Western Cape and a Master's degree in development from the University of Limpopo.' He also attended an Executive Management Development Programme at Harvard University in 2003.' == Anti-apartheid activism ==

In his youth, Mathabatha became involved in anti-apartheid activism in the Northern Transvaal, particularly in Motetema, a township in the Lebowa bantustan on the outskirts of Grobersdal.''' In the 1980s, he was active in the United Democratic Front (UDF); 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 (SACP) and helped the SACP establish its branches in the region.' == Career in the civil service: 1994–2013 ==

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, and Gazankulu – with part of the government of the former Transvaal. Mathabatha entered the public administration sector, working in 1994 as the technical advisor to Limpopo's Member of the Executive Council for Finance and Economic Development. 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: 2013–2024 ==

In July 2013, the ANC asked Cassel Mathale to resign as Premier of Limpopo, and the ANC-controlled Limpopo Provincial Legislature elected Mathabatha to replace him. He was sworn in as Premier on 18 July.'''' In the Citizens account, Mathabatha returned to South Africa after being "head-hunted" by President Zuma as a successor to Mathale.' The 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 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).'''''' Mathale was re-elected to full terms as premier after the 2014 and 2019 general elections. Election as provincial chairperson 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.' 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.' 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:'''''' Mathabatha is also a member of the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP). In July 2022, he was elected to a second five-year term as a member of the SACP Central Committee. Bid for national chairmanship Also in the run-up to the 55th National Conference, Mathabatha emerged as a serious competitor to incumbent ANC National Chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, 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. 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.'''''' Tribalism controversy Mathabatha was accused of regionalism and tribalism. Most prominently, this accusation was made in 2018 by Penny Penny, 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-speaking.'''' In 2020, the Citizen printed, without attribution, the claim that Mathabatha had displayed a regionalist or nepotist bias in appointing five people from his home region, Sekhukhune, to senior management positions in his office.' Mathabatha denied the accusation on both occasions. He was succeeded by Phophi Ramathuba on 14 June 2024. == Career in national government: 2024–present ==

Mathabatha was elected to a seat in the National Assembly in the 2024 election, and on 30 June President Ramaphosa appointed him as Deputy Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development. == Personal life ==

Mathabatha lives in the village of Tooseng in Ga-Mphahlele in Limpopo.''' His wife was the late Margaret Mathabatha, who had three children. She was born in Pretoria, Gauteng and was formerly a teacher and civil servant. In July 2025, at the age of 68, Mathabatha attended initiation school. == References ==