Mabe endorsed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in the party's leadership race‚ won by Cyril Ramaphosa in December‚ and has been described as being in the pro-Zuma camp.
According to his CV‚ Mabe is a journalist who previously worked for a mainstream print media outlet and holds a BTech in Journalism from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). He has also completed a two-year Executive Development Programme with UNISA SBL and is currently completing a Masters in Business Leadership.
The ANC said: "Comrade Mabe was deployed as a member of Parliament following the General Elections of 2014‚ a position he resigned from in 2017 to continue pursuing his interest in business through some of the enterprise development innovations he has created."
The party "has full confidence in him to execute his new task at the helm of our communication machinery with distinction‚" said Duarte.
Times Select political analyst Ranjeni Munusamy reported on this appointment on February 1 - see