Fikile Mbalula | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mbalula in January 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary-General of the African National Congress | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 19 December 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Cyril Ramaphosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ace Magashule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the National Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 22 May 2019 – 6 March 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Motalane Monakedi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 May 2009 – 26 February 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ellen Molekane | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | National list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of theAfrican National Congress Youth League | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office August 2004 – April 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Rubben Mohlaloga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Malusi Gigaba | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Julius Malema | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Fikile April Mbalula (1971-04-08)8 April 1971 (age 54) Botshabelo, South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | African National Congress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Nozuko Mbalula | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Jabu Mbalula (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nicknames |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fikile April Mbalula (born 8 April 1971) is a South African politician and current Secretary-General of theAfrican National Congress (ANC) since December 2022. He was acabinet minister between 2010 and 2023, most proximately asMinister of Transport from 2019 to 2023.
Mbalula rose to national political prominence as the President of theANC Youth League between 2004 and 2008. During this period, he became an outspoken supporter ofJacob Zuma, whom he supported at the ANC's 2007Polokwane conference. At the same conference, he was elected to the ANCNational Executive Committee for the first time and became the party's head of elections and organisation, in which capacity he coordinated its campaign in the2009 general election. He continued to play a central role in the ANC's subsequent election campaigns.
After Mbalula joined theNational Assembly in May 2009, he was appointed asDeputy Minister of Police by Zuma, who was newly elected as President of South Africa. He went on to serve inZuma's cabinet asMinister of Sport and Recreation from 2010 to 2017 and asMinister of Police from 2017 to 2018. He maintained a prominent public profile in both positions, even as his standing in the ANC suffered due to his falling out with Zuma and his unsuccessful bid to be elected as ANC Secretary-General in2012.
Although he was initially excluded fromthe cabinet of Zuma's successor, PresidentCyril Ramaphosa, Mbalula returned asMinister of Transport from May 2019 to March 2023. He left government in order to take up his full-time position as ANC Secretary-General, which he won at the ANC's55th National Conference in December 2022.
Mbalula was born on 8 April 1971[1] on a farm nearBotshabelo, a township outsideBloemfontein in the formerOrange Free State.[2] He grew up in the township and entered politics through theBotshabelo Youth Congress, which he led between 1986 and 1987.[1] He also joined the localUnited Democratic Front in 1989.[1]
He was still a teenager when theAfrican National Congress (ANC) was unbanned by theapartheid government in 1990, and later the same year he became active in the ANC's youth structures. When theANC Youth League (ANCYL) was re-established inside South Africa, he rose through its ranks, becoming Regional Secretary in 1991 and Provincial Secretary in 1994.[1] At the same time, he trained inpsychotherapy as a counsellor.[1]
In 1996, Mbalula ascended to national office in the ANCYL as the league's secretary for political education. He held that office until 1998, when he was elected as national Secretary-General of the league, serving under ANCYL PresidentMalusi Gigaba.[1] He and Gigaba were both re-elected – in Mbalula's case unopposed – in April 2001.[3] The pair were apparently close confidantes: by 2002, they discussed their political ambitions with other ANCYL members, identifying Mbalula as an ideal future ANC Secretary-General and Gigaba as an ANC President.[4]
Reportedly in line with Mbalula and Gigaba's plans,[4] Mbalula succeeded Gigaba as ANCYL President at the league's next elective conference, held inJohannesburg in August 2004. His candidacy was unopposed, and he was viewed as an attractive candidate because he could straddle the league's "old guard" and its new generation of younger students.[5] During his single term as ANCYL President, Mbalula was also President of theInternational Union of Socialist Youth in 2004.[1]
Mbalula's presidency elevated him to national prominence[6] and his tenure was controversial. His politics have been described aspopulist,[7] and he attracted media attention for his public statements.[8] His critics accused him of "eroding authority and decorum" in the ANC in a manner that "changed the culture of the league" and set a precedent for his successors.[9] Also controversial was his close relationship withBrett Kebble, a businessman and prolific political donor.[9] Mbalula was a pallbearer at Kebble's funeral in 2005,[10] and Kebble's biographer, Mandy Wiener, claimed that Kebble had been Mbalula's political mentor, frequently hosting him – and even coaching him – overJohnnie Walker Blue Label at his home inAtholl, Johannesburg.[11] Mbalula personally was a member of a trust that co-owned Lembede Investment Holdings, an ANCYL-linked investment company that did business with Kebble.[12]
In April 2008, theMail & Guardian accused Mbalula of plagiarising an article he wrote for the November 2007 issue ofUmrambulo, the ANC newsletter. The article, entitled "A Hurdle Race Rigged Against the Poor", apparently bore remarkable similarity to a 2002 report byOxfam. Mbalula said that he had never read or seen the Oxfam report.[13]
Mbalula was formerly viewed as a supporter of incumbent PresidentThabo Mbeki – he was a former protegé of the late ANCYL stalwartPeter Mokaba, who was an Mbeki loyalist – but by early 2005 he had "switched sides" to support Mbeki's deputy and foremost rival, Deputy PresidentJacob Zuma.[14][9] In February 2005, for example, he said publicly that theANC Women's League was "a bunch of holy cows" whose opposition to Zuma's rise would be judged by "the march of history".[15] During 2005 and 2006, Mbalula was the figurehead of the ANCYL's support for Zuma during Zuma'scorruption trial andrape trial;[9] in particular, he was reportedly the key figure in "orchestrating" the ANCYL's energetic demonstrations outside the courthouse,[16] and he sometimes addressed the crowd there.[17] An American diplomatic cable, leaked later duringCablegate, claimed that Mbalula had not initially wanted to defend Zuma during his criminal trials but had faced pressure to do so from within the ANCYL.[18]
In any case, Mbalula became "an important 'dog of war'" in Zuma's campaign to be elected as ANC president.[16][19] Under Mbalula, the national ANCYL opposed Mbeki's bid for a third term in the ANC presidency; Mbalula said Mbeki had "played his role".[20] He also said that the league would continue to support Zuma even if he faced further criminal charges.[21] Indeed, when the ANC's52nd National Conference opened inPolokwane in December 2007, Mbalula addressed a rally – an unprecedented display at an ANC conference – of Zuma supporters.[22]
In the party elections, where Zuma triumphed, Mbalula was himself elected to the ANCNational Executive Committee (NEC), of which he had formerly been anex officio member in his ANCYL capacity. He received 2,116 votes from the roughly 4,000 delegates, making him the 15th-most popular candidate of the 80 ordinary members elected.[23] He was also elected to the ANC's influential 20-memberNational Working Committee[24] and was appointed to head the NEC's newly established subcommittee on organisation-building andcampaigns.[25]
By the time of the Polokwane conference, Mbalula was over the age of 35 and therefore technically ineligible for membership in the ANCYL.[26] His successor, firebrand Zuma supporterJulius Malema, was elected at a league conference at theUniversity of the Free State in April 2008. Malema's ascension had Mbalula's support, while the other contender, Saki Mofokeng, was reportedly supported bySihle Zikalala, the outgoing ANCYL Secretary-General.[27]
After leaving the ANCYL, Mbalula worked full-time in organising and campaigns from the ANC's headquarters atLuthuli House in Johannesburg.[28] He ran the ANC's campaign in the2009 general election, with Zuma as the party's presidential candidate; the campaign was considered highly successful,[29] especially in its appeal to young voters.[16] Indeed, his organisational prowess has often been admired, with Mbalula described as "a talentedfixer,spin doctor, organiser and campaigner"[14] and as a "keen strategist" and moderniser.[16]
During this period, Mbalula remained in the public eye, including as a persistent critic of former President Mbeki. He called Mbeki "aggrieved" and "bitter" in a February 2009 interview with theMail & Guardian,[30] and in April that year he published anopen letter in which he held Mbeki responsible for the establishment of theCongress of the People, a recent ANC breakaway.[31] In his letter, Mbalula wrote to Mbeki:
Mandela handed you a vibrant and united ANC, yet at the twilight of your presidency, you chose to betray everything that Mandela and those that came before him stood for, struggled for, and laid down their lives for. In a moment of intoxication with power, you forgotMadiba's wise counsel and allowed our glorious movement to stumble on the edge of an abyss. When your cabal was finally defeated in Polokwane because of its actions and underhanded tactics at securing a third term for you as a president of the ANC, they went into an elaborate conspiratorial mode, famously dubbed 'the fight-back strategy' which clearly carried your blessing... It is a sad reality that the phenomenon we are dealing with today is a result of your actions of conniving, manipulating people and advancing politics ofpatronage. Despite the fact that you were a democratically elected president, you chose to run both the organisation and the country with a cabal which sought to commandeer everyone along your thinking and vision, which at times ran contrary to what the ANC stood for.[31]
Mbalula defended his words after President Motlanthe called the letter "unbecoming".[32]
In the April 2009 election, Mbalula himself was elected to an ANC seat in theNational Assembly, the lower house of theSouth African Parliament. He was believed to be in line for acabinet post,[33][34] and newlyelected President Zuma appointed him asDeputy Minister of Police under MinisterNathi Mthethwa.[35] He was one of the youngest deputy ministers in the government,[16] and he quickly gained a public profile, sometimes appearing even to overshadow Mthethwa.
Focusing onvisible policing, Mbalula announced several high-profile initiatives,[16] including the community-led OperationWanya Totsi[36] and a ministerial effort to amend Section 49 of theCriminal Procedure Act to allow police to uselethal force even when not strictly necessary.[37] In the latter case, Mbalula garnered political attention for encouraging police to "Shoot the bastards".[37] He also spearheaded a project to re-introducemilitary ranks and discipline in the post-apartheidSouth African Police Service,[38] inviting harsh criticism from ANC stalwartKader Asmal, who said:
The new administration is referring to themilitarisation of the police. I have this former head of the youth league [Mbalula] who aspires to be secretary general of the ANC. Ha, really, I hope I won't be alive. He said we must militarise the police. We spent days and days in1991 to get away from the idea of a militarised police force. Extraordinary. This is a kind of craziness all of us have to take into account.[39]
Within months of Mbalula's appointment, the media observed tensions between him and his minister,[40] with Mthethwa resenting Mbalula's popularity and Mbalula resenting Mthethwa's promotion ahead of him – Mthethwa had been junior to Mbalula in the ANCYL, serving as national organiser while Mbalula was President.[4][16] TheSunday Times also suggested that Mbalula had become disillusioned with President Zuma when Zuma failed to give him a full ministerial post after the election.[4] Asked about his relationship with the minister, Mbalula conceded that they sometimes disagreed, saying that he was nobody's "ball boy" and that, "I’m a deputy minister, but a deputy with substance."[37]
On 31 October 2010, in a major cabinet reshuffle, Mbalula was appointed asMinister of Sport and Recreation. His promotion apparently followed a "heavy-handed campaign" by the ANCYL, though the portfolio itself was considered relatively junior.[41] Upon taking office, he said that he would prioritise the transformation of sport, including through the promotion ofschool sport and community sport and through the eradication ofcorruption in sports bodies.[42] In parallel with the government position, he remained the ANC's internal head of elections, and he coordinated the party's campaign in the2011 local elections.[43]
Also in 2011, Mbalula's ministry drafted a national sport and recreation plan, which included a transformation charter.[44] He has been complimented for his attempts to promote sports development, which were pursued particularly through compulsoryphysical education and sport in schools nationwide.[45] The ministry's school-based initiatives, implemented in collaboration with theDepartment of Basic Education, were viewed as largely successful.[46]
Others said that Mbalula advocated for sports as a means of promoting nationalsocial cohesion.[7] He argued publicly that South Africa should bid to host the2020 Olympics and, later, the2024 Olympics.[7][47] Under his leadership,Durban became a host city for the2022 Commonwealth Games, though it later withdrew.[48] He also garnered attention as a harsh critic ofBafana Bafana, the nationalsoccer team: for example, he called the team "a bunch of losers" after they were eliminated during the group stage of the2014 African Nations Championship,[49] and he said they were a "disgrace" and "embarrassing" when they failed to qualify for the2012 Africa Cup of Nations after misreading the eligibility rules.[50][51]
He frequently threatened sporting bodies with harsh penalties if they did not ensure greater diversity among sportsmen, threatening in 2014 to hike race quotas across all national teams and threatening in 2016 to withdraw the right of certain bodies to host international tournaments.[52][53] In addition, in October 2011, he appointed an inquiry into the affairs ofCricket South Africa;[54] chaired by retired JudgeChris Nicholson, the panel recommended the suspension of the body's head, Gerald Majola, among other things.[55] These moves were generally welcomed, though they were sometimes viewed as a form ofelectioneering by Mbalula.[56]
After he entered the sports ministry, Mbalula's relationship with President Zuma continued to deteriorate.[4] In particular, there had long been reports that Mbalula aspired to be elected as ANC Secretary-General at the party's next internal elections, to be held at the53rd National Conference in December 2012;[57] Julius Malema and his ANCYL, in particular, gave early and outspoken support to Mbalula's candidacy.[58][59] This aspiration brought him into competition with the incumbent Secretary-General,Gwede Mantashe, who was a close ally of Zuma's.[57][60]
By June 2011, there were reports that Mbalula's allies were actively campaigning on his behalf in theWestern Cape.[61] He stood on a ticket aligned to ANC Deputy PresidentKgalema Motlanthe, who challenged Zuma's incumbency in the ANC presidency.[62] In October 2012, in an interview with theStar, Mbalula said that Zuma's faction had invited him to join the Zuma-aligned slate of candidates but that he had declined the offer, because, "I have no time for Zuma. He has caused his own problems. He marries every week. He is building amansion in Nkandla."[63] He was subsequently strongly rebuked by Zuma's supporters.[64]
The elective conference was held inMangaung in December 2012, and Mbalula ultimately became one of its "biggest losers", along with others who had sought to unseat Zuma.[65] Zuma comfortably retained the ANC presidency, and Mantashe retained the Secretary-General post in a landslide, receiving 3,058 votes to Mbalula's 908.[66] Mbalula also failed to gain re-election as an ordinary member of the NEC,[67] andNomvula Mokonyane replaced him as the ANC's head of organisation-building and campaigns.[68] However, he remained in his government ministry, was highly ranked on the ANC's party list inthe next general election (sixth nationally),[69] and returned to the NEC by co-option in March 2015.[70] He was also involved in the ANC's campaign in the2016 local elections.[71][72]
Mbalula's tenure in the sports ministry coincided with the height of allegedstate capture of theZuma administration. In 2019, two years after Mbalula's departure from the ministry and nine years after his appointment, it transpired that he had first heard that he would be appointed to the ministry during a phone call with one of theGupta brothers, close associates of Zuma's who were allegedly central figures in state capture. Senior politicianTrevor Manuel was the first to attract public attention to the phone call. In a 2017 open letter to Mbalula in theDaily Maverick, Manuel recounted an ANC NEC meeting in August 2011:
There, the Fikile Mbalula we once knew wept as he spoke. He explained he'd been called toSaxonwold [the Guptas' residence] by the Guptas in May 2009 and was told that he was being promoted from the position of Deputy Minister of Police to Minister of Sport. A few days later the President confirmed this change. The weeping was about the fact that he, Fikile, was happy that he’d made it into Cabinet but that it was wrong to have learnt this fromAtul Gupta.[73]
Manuel recounted this story in his testimony to theZondo Commission in 2019, saying that he had construed the phone call as further evidence that the Guptas may have had influence in appointing Zuma's cabinet ministers.[74] Mbalula confirmed that Manuel's story was broadly correct,[75] although he had in fact been promoted in 2010 and although he said that it wasAjay Gupta, not Atul Gupta, who had called to congratulate him.[76] Ajay Gupta submitted an affidavit confirming that the phone call had taken place, though he said that he had gathered that Mbalula would be promoted from what he had read in newspapers, not based on any personal involvement in the decision.[77]
In his own testimony to the commission, Mbalula said that he had raised the phone call with the NEC as a matter of "political conscience", motivated to confront the Guptas' political influence, but that he had been dissatisfied with the response of other NEC members.[76] He also said that he did not have any close personal association with Gupta family, though he had met Ajay Gupta three times while in the sports ministry, on one occasion at the Guptas' home in Saxonwold.[78]
In the final report of the Zondo Commission, chairpersonRaymond Zondo pointed out that Mbalula had not disclosed the phone call in 2016 when he was interviewed about the Guptas by thePublic Protector,Thuli Madonsela, during Madonsela's investigation into state capture. In fact, in his conversation with Madonsela, Mbalula had outright denied that the Guptas had contacted him about his appointment.[79] Zondo wrote of the discrepancy:
If he lied to the Public Protector in this regard – as seems to be the case – the likely explanation is that he was protecting his own political position in the ANC and the government by shielding the then still powerful president Zuma from the Public Protector's investigation into his relationship with the Guptas. This, of course, would be no excuse. His answer to the public protector was no momentary lapse. When reading the interview transcript, one is struck by his politician's facility in walking like atrapeze artist along a line of artful prevarication – avoiding full disclosure as far as possible rather than falling into an outright lie. However, Advocate Madonsela’s persistent questioning led eventually to the latter result.[79]
In December 2018, Madonsela's successor as Public Protector,Busisiwe Mkhwebane, reported that Mbalula had violated theConstitution and the Executive Ethics Act in his funding arrangements for an expensive family holiday, taken in Dubai while he was Sport Minister in 2016.[80] Because Mbalula had left the cabinet by the time the finding was made, Mkhwebane did not recommend any remedial action against him.[81] Mbalula said that Mkhwebane's conclusions were "unsubstantiated and prejudicial".[82]
On 31 March 2017, as part of a controversial cabinet reshuffle, Zuma appointed Mbalula to replaceNathi Nhleko as Minister of Police.[83] During his first week in the ministry, Mbalula echoed his earlier remarks as Deputy Minister of Police, promising to be tough on crime and telling police officers to "meet fire with fire".[84] Although theDaily Maverick said that Mbalula continued to have a "gung-ho attitude" in his public appearances, it also complimented his efforts to restore the morale and reputation of the police.[85] In addition, during his year in office, Mbalula entered into a prolonged battle to remove General Berning Ntlemeza from his position at the head of theHawks,[86] and he also firedKhomotso Phahlane as actingNational Police Commissioner.[87]
At the ANC's54th National Conference, held atNasrec in December 2017, Mbalula was returned to the ANC NEC for another five-year term; by number of votes received, he was ranked 14th of the 80 ordinary members elected to the committee.[88] However, he backed the losing presidential candidate in the race to succeed Zuma: he publicly voiced support for Zuma's preferred successor,Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.[89][90] Indeed, he had been touted as a possible candidate to run on Dlamini-Zuma's slate for the Secretary-General position.[72] Dlamini-Zuma lost to Zuma's deputy,Cyril Ramaphosa.
In the aftermath of the Nasrec conference, Zuma was removed from the national presidency and replaced by Ramaphosa. When Ramaphosa announcedhis new cabinet on 26 February 2018, Mbalula was omitted; former Police CommissionerBheki Cele replaced him as Minister of Police.[91] Mbalula resigned from his parliamentary seat the same day, although his resignation was not announced until early March. The ANC said that he would return to ANC headquarters at Luthuli House to work full-time in his former role as the ANC's head of elections.[92]
As custodian of the ANC's campaign in the2019 general election,[93] Mbalula said that his focus would be on reversing the "Jacob Zuma phenomenon" that had "vandalised the image of the ANC".[94] He said that the party's "monumental blunder" during Zuma's presidency was its failure to be "more decisive in dealing with the image that has been undermined by the family of the Guptas... the fact that there was no voice that said: 'We are sorry and we are going to take action.'"[94]
In the general election, held in May 2019, Mbalula was returned to a seat in the National Assembly, ranked sixth on the ANC's national party list.[95] In the aftermath, President Ramaphosa appointed him to succeedBlade Nzimande asMinister of Transport in thenew cabinet.[96] He also retained his role as the ANC's head of elections and led the party through the2021 local elections.[97]
In the Ministry of Transport, Mbalula's mandate focused on repairingroad and rail infrastructure, particularly to transfer 10% of road freight to rail by the end of the legislative term.[98] In 2022, theMakhanda High Court, granting an application by Intercape in the wake ofattacks against long-distance buses, ordered Mbalula to "ensure that reasonable and effective measures are put in place to provide for the safety and security of long-distance bus drivers and passengers in theEastern Cape".[99]
In the run-up to the ANC's55th National Conference in 2022, Mbalula publicly supported Ramaphosa's successfully bid for re-election as ANC President.[100] He was also touted as the likely preference of Ramaphosa's faction for nomination for election as ANC Secretary-General, if a suitable woman candidate could not be found.[101] Although Mbalula did not perform well at the nominations stage,[102] he was announced as the victor during the conference on 19 December 2022: he received 1,692 votes (38.79% of the vote) against the 1,590 cast forPhumulo Masualle (36.45%) and 1,080 forMdumiseni Ntuli (24.76%).[103] As Secretary-General, he succeededAce Magashule, who had been suspended from the office in May 2021.
The Secretary-General works full-time from Luthuli House, and Mbalula said that he would resign from government to take up his new position.[104] In a cabinet reshuffle on 6 March 2023, Deputy Minister of TransportSindisiwe Chikunga was appointed to succeed him as Minister of Transport.[105] He resigned from Parliament on the same day.[106]
At an early stage in his tenure as ANC Secretary-General, Mbalula was accused of interfering in the electoral processes of the ANCYL in a bid to strengthenCollen Malatji's chances of being elected ANCYL President.[107][108] In particular, some ANCYL members said that he had intervened unilaterally to removeXola Nqola from his role in convening the elections.[107] Mbalula denied having interfered,[109] though the matter was reportedly raised byMondli Gungubele andEnoch Godongwana at an NEC meeting.[110] By this time, Mbalula was expected to play an important role in the ANC's campaign in the hotly contested2024 general election,[14] and he was also identified as a possible contender to succeed Ramaphosa in the presidency.[111]
Observers have commented on Mbalula's panache for "comic sideshows that kept him in the public eye" in his "colourful personal life".[14] He is particularly well-known for his use ofsocial media,[112] and he was the most-followed South African cabinet minister onTwitter in 2022.[113] He has branded himself variously as "Razzmatazz", "Mr Fearfokol", and "Mr Fix".[14][114][115]
He is married to Nozuko Mbalula, with whom he has children.[116] In January 2017, theSunday Times reported that his wife had been sued by theFree State government; she andHlaudi Motsoeneng were reportedly trustees of two companies which benefitted fromR38-million intender fraud in the province.[117] She strongly denied the reports, saying that she had been a trustee of one of the companies but that it had never received any money from government.[118]
Mbalula's older brother,Jabu, is aMember of the Executive Council in theFree State provincial government.[119]
In September 2008, theSunday Times reported that Mbalula had entered an initiation school inPhilippi, Cape Town to begin a belated ritualinitiation into manhood in theXhosa tradition;[120] Mbalula isMpondomise.[121] Acting as a spokesman for Mbalula,Zizi Kodwa said that Mbalula had wanted to be initiated earlier but had been delayed by his busy schedule.[122] However, he had been taken to the school byTony Yengeni,Nyami Booi, andMcebisi Skwatsha, all ANC politicians, and there were reports that he may have been taken against his will.[120][123] Indeed, the traditional surgeon who circumcised Mbalula told the press that Mbalula was "not informed about the circumcision" but "now he has accepted what has happened".[124] In the surgeon's account, Mbalula's ANC comrades abducted and overpowered him while he was driving to theCape Town International Airport.[124] After a month in the initiation school, Mbalula returned toBloemfontein inTokyo Sexwale's jet for a celebration, without commenting on the circumstances of his initiation.[125]
In October 2011,City Press reported that Mbalula had had an affair with a 27-year-old model whom he had met at agolf day in Johannesburg. According to the report, they hadunprotected sex at least twice in August, and the model claimed that he had impregnated her. The newspaper also excerptedSMS messages appearing to show him encouraging the model to have anabortion.[126] Mbalula's lawyer initially said that he would pursueextortion charges against the woman, on the grounds that the woman had allegedly demandedR40,000 from him.[127]
However, Mbalula ultimately released a statement saying that he would not press charges, that he "should have known better", and that he apologised "to the South African society, to the African National Congress and the South African government".[128] He denied having had unprotected sex with the woman, claiming that the condom had burst.[129] In the week that followed, he told theNew Age thatnational intelligence operatives had paid the woman R150,000 to "rubbish his name", which he said was evidence that state security agencies were being used to fight the ANC's internal political battles.[130][131]