NATIONAL NEWS - ANC deputy president and outgoing Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza is set to become the deputy president of the country, The Citizen has been reliably informed.

Mabuza is to fill the vacancy left by Cyril Ramaphosa who has become the country’s fifth democratic president.

Sources within the ANC NEC said Mabuza would make his farewell state of the province address in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, on Friday.

He would be sworn in along with other members to be named by Ramaphosa after an imminent Cabinet reshuffle, probably at the weekend.

“It’s a done deal. DD is going to make his last Sopa on Friday. We know that he would like a female to replace him as premier,” the source said.

It is understood that Mabuza would like to see either Cooperative Governance MEC Refilwe Mtsweni or Education MEC Reginah Mhaule replace him as premier until the 2019 elections.

Mabuza, a previous staunch follower of then president Jacob Zuma, was regarded as a “kingmaker” at the ANC national conference in Nasrec last December because of his massive following and influence within the ANC structures in the Mpumalanga province.

Before he was elected as ANC deputy president in December, he personally controlled Mpumalanga votes, which he dangled in front of the presidential hopefuls, Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to lure them to adopt unity in the ANC instead of contesting each other on a factional basis.

Read more on the Caxton publication, The Citizen.

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