He also served as Provincial Chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo from 1996 to 1998 and is a former member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.
[1] He was recruited into the African National Congress (ANC) in 1974, at which time the organisation was banned by the apartheid government and operated underground.
[2] Mashamba's wife also served five years in a women's prison, and their three young children, all under the age of six, were raised by family during that time.
The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) had apparently preferred that the incumbent, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, should be re-elected unopposed, leading to an implicit or explicit instruction that members should not contest the position.
[9] The frontrunners, Peter Mokaba and Joe Phaahla, therefore declined their nominations for the chairmanship,[10] reportedly following a conversation with ANC President Nelson Mandela about the imperatives of party unity.
Mashamba was deputised by former Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla; also serving on the nine-member committee during his tenure were Mlangeni, Sophie de Bruyn‚ Sindiso Mfenyana‚ Sue Rabkin‚ Smangaliso Mkhatshwa‚ Essop Jassat and Cyril Jantjies.
His five-year term ended after the ANC's 55th National Conference and in February 2023 the party announced that he would be succeeded as chairperson by Frank Chikane.