Mabe ‘ready to pass the baton’
The ANC spokesperson has been at Luthuli House since 2018 but is now ready for a new life
In his first days as the ANC national spokesperson, Pule Mabe was thrown into the deep end when the party made the decision to recall its then sitting president, Jacob Zuma. ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte called Mabe to her office and told him that he had been appointed the party’s new spin doctor. Minutes later, he was off to brief the media on Zuma’s recall.
His excitement was short-lived. He, together with former communications manager Khusela Diko, had to brave a relentless media storm as Zuma made public statements about his intention to defy the governing party’s marching orders.
“I must say I did not have full confidence in handling the media. When I came into this position, by the way, I never even thought that I would complete six months in the position. So, [it was a case of] having my bag next to me thinking that the next day I might be gone. Here I am, almost finishing a term,” he told the Mail & Guardian.
To Mabe, this was a baptism of fire but his time as the ANC spokesperson has been spent dousing fires.
“It’s important for us, as ANC communicators, to always come across as giving assurance and certainty to the nation, especially because the ANC is the governing party,” he said, insisting that the positions of the ANC must never be misinterpreted.
“I came to understand that in my near five-year journey as the national spokesperson of the ANC. It was a bit bumpy at first, challenging as we went through, but we ensured that we steer the ship.”
Another difficult situation was the suspension of secretary general Ace Magashule, the man thought to have fought for Mabe to become his right hand at Luthuli House. Traditionally, the secretary general works closely with the spokesperson. The two positions are responsible for communicating the party’s position to the media and the public.
It goes without saying that a secretary general would want someone that he or she trusts as the party mouthpiece. Former ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and Zizi Kodwa, Mabe’s predecessor, leaned on each other during their terms. That relationship also morphed into the faction they supported in the Zuma years and now with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In November 2020, when Magashule entered the court room in Bloemfontein on charges of money laundering, corruption and fraud, he was flanked by supporters and Mabe was beside him.
Mabe said this was part of the responsibility as spokesperson of the party. He would have to brief ANC officials on the outcomes of Magashule’s court appearance, and he had to put out fires as Magashule’s inner circle lashed out at the country’s judiciary.
“There was one court appearance of the SG [secretary general] before he stepped aside where we did the presser afterwards. I had found these cadres having written a statement, which they wanted the SG to present out there lashing out at judges. I said, ‘No, comrades, it’s not going to happen’. The secretary general of the ANC can never come out as lashing out at the judiciary, we have got the duty ourselves to always uphold the independence of the judiciary, in our articulations and in our actions.”
Once the ANC decided on a position regarding Magashule, he had to toe the party line.
When the ANC communicated the decision to suspend Magashule, he fired a salvo at Ramaphosa, trying to suspend the sitting president.
The letter from Magashule “suspending” Ramaphosa reached the media in the late hours of 5 May last year, which meant serious damage control was needed. While Mabe was doing this, Magashule was still confirming the authenticity of the letter in public, along with his intentions to “suspend” Ramaphosa.
Mabe was trying to convince the media that the letter was “fake news” written with the intention of creating panic in the country and among investors.
“I still maintain that it was fake to the extent that the SG himself did not have the authority to do so at the time, because there was a decision of the NEC [national executive committee] to suspend him. So I was saying it in the context that the SG did not have the authority to do so,” said Mabe during his interview with the M&G.
Another period that tested Mabe’s resolve was Zuma’s defiance of the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, and his defiance of the constitutional court order that he should testify at the commission. It was this defiance of the court order that ultimately led to Zuma’s incarceration, which sparked off the deadly and costly July 2021 riots.
“Actually, if you look at all our statements, during the period that I had assumed the position, I had avoided working with a team to make sure that we don’t make contradictory statements. What we say, are the things we must be able to repeat tomorrow,” said Mabe.
His time in the upper echelons of the party has not been without blemish. In 2019, he was accused of sexual harassment and had to temporarily take a leave of absence.
Mabe also came under fire when he was an MP and it emerged that he was linked to a company that received undue payment amounting to R30-million from a contract with the Ekurhuleni metro.
He has also been criticised as having been lacklustre in executing his duties as the party’s spokesperson, which in 2019 led to the head of elections, Fikile Mbalula, roping in Kodwa and Jackson Mthembu to help steer the ship during the national elections.
But Mabe takes pride in having made changes to the ANC’S communications department, which he says have helped the party navigate the rough waters of Covid-19 and
‘When I came into this position, by the way, I never even thought that I would complete six months’
the economic downturn.
The communication changes include a greater focus on social media, which has boosted the ANC’S Twitter following from 400000 to more than one million, and improving its digital publication to ensure it speaks directly to party members.
“So if you look at [the publication] ANC Today, we said we were going to change what used to be called a letter from the president. We were instead going to [present] it as a conversation.
“So the front page of ANC Today is a conversation with the president. We are even taking what the president is doing in government now, and we turn it into conversations with every Friday edition.”
In response to those conversations, said Mabe, topical issues would be taken and used in a column called “Dear Mr President”. ”
He also pats himself on the back for having made Ramaphosa more accessible to journalists, regardless of their seniority.
“I’m giving the young ones, all of you, I’m giving you an opportunity to talk to the president. I’m sure if there is a president you have spoken to more times than any other it is Ramaphosa. So that was part of a strategy, to deal with leaks, to remove a narrative that says presidents of the ANC are divorced or removed from the media.”
Mabe’s assertion on Ramaphosa’s relationship with the media is open to interpretation. Commentators and editors have written to the presidency to relay their frustration with Ramaphosa’s communication team, accusing it of having limited journalists’ access to the number one citizen.