Farewell former deputy president, David Mabuza, fondly referred to as DD

THE former deputy president, David Mabuza, fondly referred to as DD is no more.

- Dr Pali Lehohla

A man who mysteriously rose to be a deputy president was supported by evidence. But even the then Statistician-General (SG) nor the current SG saw it coming. Perhaps like Malvollio in the Twelfth Night held true that rise to power has a universe of triggers, which includes the odd and unexpected.

Once smelling power Malvollio would say, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them". Truth be told DD might have moved up through the cracks by mantra of illusive unity and this might be the way the cat arranged its cheese.

But by 2016 October the current SG and I when I was still the SG went to the provincial government. On the agenda was the release of the 2016 Community Survey. Premier Mabuza invited us to his office where to our surprise we held court for an hour. We did not discuss the numbers and instead he discussed his plans. He repeatedly said, "I am not coming back. I am done with province.'

So finally he set us free to go and present.

So as we had this private space with Risenga Maluleke we giggled like small boys wondering in which ministry DD could deputise. In our estimation the man could not even be a minister and he could only deputise. So we looked around and we thought he could be in education.

But truth be told as we discussed on reflection from the numbers David Mabuza was a deserving deputy president. The numbers stacked favourably. I even went to write in one of my columns that indeed evidence favoured him.