Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane was born on 24 February 1974 and is a South African politician who has been serving as the seventh Premier of the Eastern Cape since May 2019.
23 Facts About Oscar Mabuyane
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Oscar Mabuyane was previously Member of the Executive Council for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Eastern Cape provincial government from May 2018 to May 2019.
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Formerly a businessman and aide to politician Enoch Godongwana, Mabuyane rose to political prominence through the African National Congress and ANC Youth League in the Eastern Cape.
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Oscar Mabuyane was elected ANC Provincial Secretary in 2009 and ANC Provincial Chairperson in 2017 before his ascension to the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature in February 2018.
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Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane was born on 24 February 1974 in Ngcobo in the former Cape Province.
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Oscar Mabuyane attended Zilimbola Junior Secondary School in the Cape, but as a teenager he left his family home to live with his father in Carletonville in the Transvaal so that he could earn money in nearby Johannesburg.
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Oscar Mabuyane matriculated in 1995 at Lekoa Shandu High School in Sharpeville, Transvaal.
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Oscar Mabuyane was a member of the African National Congress Youth League.
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Oscar Mabuyane later studied for a Master's degree in public administration, from the University of Fort Hare, but he was deregistered as a student in 2021; the university claimed that admission procedures had not been followed correctly upon his enrolment.
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Between 2002 and 2005, Oscar Mabuyane worked in Bhisho, Eastern Cape as chief of staff in the office of ANC politician Enoch Godongwana, who was then the Member of the Executive Council for Tourism, Economic Affairs and Finance in the Eastern Cape provincial government.
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Oscar Mabuyane was re-elected ANC provincial secretary in July 2013.
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Ahead of the provincial party's next elective conference in 2017, Oscar Mabuyane launched a campaign to oust Masualle, who intended to run for a third term as ANC provincial chairperson.
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One of the several issues of contention between their camps was leadership succession in the national ANC ahead of the ANC's 54th National Conference: Oscar Mabuyane had publicly supported deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa's bid to succeed incumbent ANC president Jacob Zuma, while Masualle was more ambivalent.
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Oscar Mabuyane thus won in a landslide, receiving 931 votes against Masualle's seven, and he was appointed ANC provincial chairperson for the Eastern Cape.
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Ndebele recommended that the Oscar Mabuyane-led provincial executive committee should be dissolved and replaced in fresh elections, but the NEC rejected his recommendation, opting instead for a "political solution" that would build "unity" in the provincial party.
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Oscar Mabuyane remained a strong supporter of Ramaphosa, who had succeeded in his 2017 bid for election as ANC president.
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On 9 May 2022, during another volatile conference, Oscar Mabuyane was re-elected to a second term as provincial chairperson, defeating a challenge from Babalo Madikizela, the incumbent provincial treasurer, with 812 votes to Madikizela's 662.
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Oscar Mabuyane was nominated for the deputy president position by 397 local ANC branches, 390 of them in the Eastern Cape, and ran against Paul Mashatile and Ronald Lamola.
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On 19 February 2018, less than six months after his election as ANC provincial chairperson, Oscar Mabuyane was sworn in as a Member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature, leading to speculation that a reshuffle in the provincial executive was imminent.
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Oscar Mabuyane was elected Premier by the provincial legislature and assumed office on 22 May 2019.
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Oscar Mabuyane was re-elected as premier following the May 2024 provincial election.
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In October 2021, Oscar Mabuyane was implicated in an investigation by the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, into the alleged misuse of public funds by the Eastern Cape provincial government and the local municipality of Mbizana, Eastern Cape.
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The Public Protector's investigation found that a portion of the money, R450,000, had been used to renovate the private residence of Oscar Mabuyane, who at the time was an MEC.