Chupu Stanley Mathabatha (born 21 January 1957) is a South African politician who was the fourth Premier of Limpopo between July 2013 and June 2024.
A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he has been the Deputy Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development since July 2024.
[3] In his youth, Mathabatha became involved in anti-apartheid activism in the Northern Transvaal, particularly in Motetema, a township in the Lebowa bantustan on the outskirts of Grobersdal.
[3] In 1977, in the aftermath of the Soweto uprising, he joined Umkhonto weSizwe, the underground armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).
[4] In the 1980s, he was active in the United Democratic Front (UDF);[4] according to News24, he worked closely with Peter Mokaba, whom he later described as a "revered comrade", and with Frans Mohlala.
Mathabatha entered the public administration sector, working in 1994 as the technical advisor to Limpopo's Member of the Executive Council for Finance and Economic Development.
[3] In subsequent years he remained in the Limpopo provincial Department of Finance and Economic Development, becoming General Manager of the Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprise Directorate by 2003.
[9] The Business Day said that Mathabatha was seen as "neutral" in the factional battles in the Limpopo ANC, and the provincial branch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions welcomed his appointment.
[14] All the top leadership positions were won by candidates who had run on a Mathabatha-aligned slate – including Radzilani, who was re-elected his deputy.
[16] Mathabatha is also a member of the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP).
[20] In 2020, the Citizen printed, without attribution, the claim that Mathabatha had displayed a regionalist or nepotist bias in appointing five people from his home region, Sekhukhune, to senior management positions in his office.