Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane (born 24 February 1974) is a South African politician who has been serving as the seventh Premier of the Eastern Cape since May 2019.
He was previously Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Eastern Cape provincial government from May 2018 to May 2019.
[2] He attended Zilimbola Junior Secondary School in the Cape,[3] 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.
[1] In 1997, he enrolled at the University of Fort Hare in the newly constituted Eastern Cape Province; he received a Bachelor's degree in economics.
[13] In subsequent months, Masualle's supporters disputed the election result and the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) appointed one of its members, S'bu Ndebele, to investigate.
[16] The other top positions in the provincial executive committee went to people who had run on Mabuyane's slate, with all the incumbent officials except Madikizela re-elected to their posts.
[17] He 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.
[19] In May, Masualle, as Premier of the Eastern Cape, appointed Mabuyane MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, in which portfolio he succeeded Sakhumzi Somyo.
[24] In 2018, the government had set aside R3.3 million to host events commemorating Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a recently deceased ANC stalwart from Mbizana.
[24] Mabuyane denied the allegation of misconduct and suggested that the criminal investigation was unconstitutional and had been influenced by suspended ANC secretary general Ace Magashule, a prominent opponent of Ramaphosa.