She represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State Provincial Legislature between January 2008 and May 2024.
She was sacked by Premier Mxolisi Dukwana in March 2023 and left the provincial legislature in the May 2024 general election.
[8] In the 2014 general election, Qabathe was re-elected to her seat in the Free State Provincial Legislature, ranked eighth on the ANC's party list.
The project was later investigated by the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who concluded in 2020 that Qabathe – along with Magashule and Msebenzi Zwane, who both preceded and succeeded her in the agriculture portfolio – was guilty of maladministration and misconduct in so far as she had failed to fulfil her constitutional oversight duties in respect of the project.
[13] Mkhwebane recommended that the Free State government should consider sanctioning Qabathe for her role in the Vrede Dairy Project saga.
[16] The DA claimed that, in addition to her putative failures as an MEC, Qabathe had shielded Zwane from accountability while she was Speaker of the legislature.
Shortly after her 2017 re-election, the election results were nullified by the high court due to procedural irregularities, but Qabathe was subsequently appointed as a member of the interim task team assembled by the national ANC to lead the provincial party until fresh elections could be held.
[22] Instead of seeking re-election as Speaker, she was returned to the Executive Council, where Sisi Ntombela, Magashule's successor as Premier, appointed her MEC for Social Development.