Paul Mashatile and Parks Tau look set for parliament

26 January 2023 - 15:21 By KGOTHATSO MADISA and ANDISIWE MAKINANA
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ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa congratulates his new deputy Paul Mashatile at the party's national conference in December. File image
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa congratulates his new deputy Paul Mashatile at the party's national conference in December. File image
Image: Sandile Ndlovu

Plans are afoot to bring ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile and former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau to parliament as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet reshuffle takes shape.

So imminent is the event that TimesLIVE has established Tau has resigned as a member of the Gauteng provincial legislature as he prepares to be sworn in as an MP.

“Tau has resigned from [the] Gauteng legislature, he is definitely coming to parliament,” said a source. He apparently did so on Wednesday.

Sources have revealed that ANC headquarters Luthuli House signed off the rejigged list of MP candidates which includes Mashatile and Tau, and it has been sent to parliament.  

Two Gauteng ANC MPs have been asked to resign to make way for the pair in the national legislature, sources said.

One is Boyce Maneli, who chairs the portfolio committee on communication. He is expected to make way for Mashatile while an unnamed woman MP has been approached to make way for Tau.

Maneli, who is a former mayor of the West Rand district municipality, denied the rumours.

“I have not been approached nor agreed to such,” he said.

Mashatile is expected to replace David Mabuza at the Union Buildings after he was elected Ramaphosa’s second-in-command at the ANC’s national conference last month.

The Sunday Times reported this week that South Africa may have a new deputy president by the end of January.

ANC insiders told the paper Mashatile will be sworn in within days.

It said the ANC in Gauteng has set in motion a process of adding Mashatile to its province-to-national IEC list of party members elected at provincial level earmarked for the National Assembly.

This is a developing story.

TimesLIVE

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