Mbete’s long walk to thwarted ambition
It has been a tough two years for National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete. And she is not out of the woods yet. The unravelling of her political aspirations arguably began the moment she took up her post.
The DA pounced on her, questioning whether, as a simultaneous holder of a top-six position in the ANC — that of national chairwoman — she could be an objective referee between parties in Parliament.
She is among four speakers who have served in the post since 1994 and this is her second stint at it.
She followed in the footsteps of Frene Ginwala, who served two terms.
She took up the post again in 2014 after Max Sisulu and Gwen MahlanguNkabinde, who served briefly during Kgalema Motlanthe’s short caretaker presidency.
In 2014, Mbete was denied the position of deputy president of the country and placed in the speaker’s chair.
At the time, the Sowetan reported that she had taken ill upon receiving the news that ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa had been chosen as the country’s second in command instead of her.
Mbete’s second tenure as speaker began as the EFF entered Parliament after the 2014 national election.
The EFF has harassed Mbete inside and outside Parliament. She has also been indirectly criticised by President Jacob Zuma over her handling of Parliament, with him complaining late last year that he was being “abused” in the House.
This week, EFF leader Julius Malema went a step further and publicly broke down the details of her fate in the ANC that, until now, had only been whispered about.
In Parliament last week, he told her she was “irrational” and “emotional”, and said this was why she would never see the presidency.
Mbete was originally approached by the ANC Women’s League to put her name forward to succeed Zuma, but she was unceremoniously dropped by the league earlier this year — without warning — in favour of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Dlamini-Zuma was favoured by the Guptas and, Zuma and the women’s league did not hesitate to ditch Mbete.
But Zuma’s irritation at Mbete’s handling of his dressing down in Parliament and humiliation has long been evident.
Even the red berets admitted that during last week’s raucous state of the nation address, Mbete appeared more hesitant to boot out the EFF than in the past, allowing a delay of about an hour, during which Zuma was prevented from beginning his speech — to the chagrin of Luthuli House.
This followed the blow to her ambitions by the women’s league and Zuma when they backed Dlamini-Zuma instead.
Now, according to Malema, Mbete is pinning her hopes on an audacious presidential bid by Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, which she believes could catapult her into the Union Buildings, with him as her deputy.
Of course, Mabuza has presidential ambitions of his own, so once again, Mbete would be walking a tightrope.
If selected as president, she would also be tasked with driving the ANC’s “radical economic transformation” — a hard sell because, according to Malema, she was part of the economic transformation negotiating team before 1994 that produced the policies we have today.
Malema told journalists on Tuesday that Mbete had even forfeited her lifelong pension from her stint as deputy president under Motlanthe when she took up the speaker post, because she believed her next gig would plant her firmly in Mahlamba Ndlopfu. But it was not to be.
She has also lost key court challenges that weakened her in the public eye, among them the Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla.
The court order read that the resolution passed by the National Assembly under her leadership that absolved the president from compliance with the remedial action laid down by the public protector, was invalid and, therefore, had to be set aside.
And this is also the source of Mbete’s latest headache.
The EFF is set to take her on in court once again to force Parliament to discipline or remove Zuma, after the earlier court process had cancelled Parliament’s action on the Nkandla matter.
The public protector’s report on Nkandla was handed to Parliament to be acted on back in 2014, when she publicly released it. In the Constitutional Court hearings, Mbete’s attorney put up a shockingly weak argument, leaving her client with egg on her face.
Should the EFF be granted direct access to the Constitutional Court, Mbete could now risk yet more humiliation by having to appear in court to defend Zuma after he has once again shoved her aside.
Mbete’s political career has travelled a rocky road and the path ahead looks just as rough.
THE EFF HAS HARASSED MBETE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT. SHE HAS ALSO BEEN INDIRECTLY CRITICISED BY JACOB ZUMA