Following the recent elections, the ANC has kept a stronghold on its birth province, the Free State, securing 52% support. Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae has since announced her cabinet in a province beset by widespread service delivery failures, political infighting, unemployment and poverty, and a general lack of economic growth.

Barely a week after being sworn-in and officially inaugurated as premier of the embattled Free State province, MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae has announced the members of her executive, which she hopes will deal with corruption and prioritise service delivery.

Some of her MMCs however are no strangers to controversy, particularly Jabu Mbalula, who is the older brother of the ANC's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.

In 2022, Jabu was identified as one of several ghost workers who fleeced the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) in Mangaung of millions of rands as they earned huge salaries after the 2021 local government elections, but never worked a single day at the ailing municipality, The Citizen reported.

In 2023, Jabu was appointed the party's provincial spokesperson. He had previously been appointed SA's ambassador to Romania in 2017. Prior to his appointment as a spin doctor, he was reportedly active in building ANC structures in the province.

Sixteen months after being elected a spin doctor, Jabu has now been appointed MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, a position previously occupied by the incumbent premier Letsoha-Mathae.

Lacking a clean audit

The members of the executive for the seventh administration were announced by Letsoha-Mathae on Thursday at...