38 Facts About Pule Mabe

Pule Mabe formerly represented the ANC in the National Assembly from 2014 to 2017.

Pule Mabe was elected to Parliament in the 2014 general election but resigned in mid-2017.

Pule Mabe was elected to his first term on the ANC National Executive Committee in 2012.

Pule Mabe was elected to a third consecutive five-year term on the National Executive Committee in 2022.

Pule Mabe was born on 1 March 1980 in Namakgale, a township in Phalaborwa in present-day Limpopo.

Pule Mabe was raised by a single mother who died when he was 22.

Pule Mabe earned a BTech in journalism from the Tshwane University of Technology, where he served as deputy president of the students' representative council from 1998 to 1999.

Pule Mabe pursued his own business career, establishing a publishing company called KG Media.

Pule Mabe ran for the position on a slate of candidates aligned to Malema, who was elected ANCYL President at the same party conference.

Pule Mabe was re-elected to the position, again alongside Malema, in June 2011.

In May 2012, the ANCYL National Executive Committee passed a motion of no confidence in Pule Mabe and dismissed him as Treasurer-General, though he would remain an ordinary member of the league.

The motion reportedly arose from allegations that Pule Mabe had mismanaged the league's funds and, through his own ANCYL presidential ambitions, had sown division in the league.

Pule Mabe rejected the decision, saying it had been made improperly.

Sources told the Sowetan that several members of the ANCYL National Executive Committee intended to ask the mainstream ANC to review the decision, and Pule Mabe laid a formal complaint with the ANC leadership, who concurred that the decision was indeed procedurally questionable and did require review.

Amid his battle with the ANCYL, Pule Mabe attended the ANC's 53rd National Conference in December 2012 and secured election to his first five-year term on the mainstream party's National Executive Committee; by number of votes received, he was ranked 64th of the 80 candidates elected to the committee.

Pule Mabe was the youngest member of the committee at that time and his election was linked to his support for Zuma's re-election bid at the same conference.

Pule Mabe was appointed to the National Executive Committee's subcommittee on communications.

Pule Mabe was released on R10,000 bail and made his first appearance in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court in February 2014.

Pule Mabe said that he had been "tried in court and the court of public opinion" and that his reputation had been severely damaged.

Also while Pule Mabe was in Parliament, the ANCYL prepared to elect a new leadership corps to replace that which had been disbanded in March 2013.

Pule Mabe had been viewed as a possible successor to Malema since at least 2012, and, despite the pending criminal charges against him, he emerged as one of the frontrunners for election as ANCYL President, alongside Ronald Lamola and Magasela Mzobe.

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams later said that Pule Mabe's candidacy had high-level political support, including from Zuma himself.

In 2015, Pule Mabe was implicated in an investigation into corruption at Prasa conducted by the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela.

The report of the investigation concluded that Pule Mabe had benefitted from a R33-million state communications contract between Prasa and his company, KG Media, which had been improperly awarded in 2012 and improperly extended in 2015.

The initial improper award of the Prasa contract had taken place before Pule Mabe was sworn into the National Assembly, but he was in his seat in 2015 when the contract was unlawfully extended.

Pule Mabe was sentenced to a reprimand and to pay a fine worth 15 days of his salary, about R40,000.

News24 speculated that he might have been "bitter" that President Zuma had not appointed him as a Deputy Minister or Minister in his cabinet, although Pule Mabe rejected that interpretation.

Ahead of the ANC's 54th National Conference in December 2017, Pule Mabe supported Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's unsuccessful campaign to be elected ANC President upon the expiry of Zuma's term.

Pule Mabe was nonetheless re-elected to the party's National Executive Committee, ranked 25th of the 80 elected candidates by popularity.

Pule Mabe assumed office shortly before the party forced Zuma to resign as national President.

Pule Mabe strongly denied the accusation and said that he had lowered her salary because he had discovered that she had fraudulently misrepresented her qualifications in her job application.

Pule Mabe laid his own complaint with the police, alleging that the misrepresentations on his accuser's job application amounted to criminal fraud and had caused him personal harm.

Pule Mabe returned to work at Luthuli House in early April 2019.

Pule Mabe later said that he had resigned from Enviro Mobi in 2014, though he retained the patent for the Karikis.

Ahead of the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022, Pule Mabe was nominated to stand for the position of ANC Treasurer-General.

Pule Mabe lost to Ramokgopa by a margin of 157 votes, receiving 1,652 votes against her 1,809.

Pule Mabe said that he would not seek reappointment as spokesperson.

Pule Mabe met his wife, Hleki, while he was an undergraduate.