In December 2003,the South African Communist Party (SACP) relaunched its Young Communist League (YCL) for the post-apartheid era,and Manamela was elected as its inaugural national secretary.[1] He held the post for over a decade,until the end of 2014. In the early years of his leadership,the YCL was a vocal supporter of Jacob Zuma,who became the primary political rival of President Thabo Mbeki. After Mbeki sacked Zuma as Deputy President in June 2005,Manamela,on behalf of the YCL,said that the decision infringed upon Zuma's constitutional rights.[5] He had formerly defended Zuma against corruption allegations,[6] and the YCL later supported Zuma during his rape trial.[7]
In June 2008,the YCL condemned the "imperialist inclination" of British authorities after Manamela was detained at Heathrow Airport for several hours,according to the YCL under "barbaric interrogation... on suspicion that he is a terrorist".[8] Manamela was on a trip to London to meet with the British Young Communist League and attend a lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies,and he said that he was held by immigration officers for about six hours.[9] The British High Commission said that he was subject to "routine immigration checks".[8]
Also during his first term in the National Assembly,Manamela was elected to a third term as YCL secretary at a hotly contested national congress in Mafikeng.[12] His outgoing deputy,Khaye Nkwanyane,was slated to challenge his incumbency,but Manamela's camp reportedly reached a deal with Nkwanyane that left him uncontested.[13] One of the issues of contestation was Manamela's close relationship with SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande:[14] by that time,Nzimande was viewed as Manamela's political "mentor",[15] and critics even characterised Manamela as his "puppet",though Manamela denied this.[16] Manamela was directly elected onto the SACP's Central Committee in 2012,[17] though he had long been an ex officio member of the committee in his YCL capacity.[18] In 2014,he was additionally elected to the Provincial Executive Committee on the ANC's Limpopo branch.[1]
Ahead of the YCL's fourth national congress in December 2014,Manamela announced that he would not seek election to another term as general secretary but would instead step down to allow new leaders to emerge.[16] However,he served the rest of his term as a member of the SACP Central Committee and was re-elected to that body at the party's 14th national congress in July 2017.[17] His re-election followed reports that Zuma's opponents were lobbying for Manamela and other Zuma allies to be ousted from the Central Committee;[20] according to sources of the Mail &Guardian,Manamela had fallen out with Nzimande over issues including Manamela's continued support for Zuma.[21]
In addition,at the ANC's 55th National Conference in December 2022,Manamela was elected to a five-year term as a member of the ANC National Executive Committee;he was ranked 22nd of the committee's 80 members,receiving 1,503 votes across roughly 4,000 ballots.[24] He was also re-elected to the SACP Central Committee in 2022 and was appointed as the party's assistant secretary for internal media and publications.[25] Buti Manamela has been appointed as Minister of higher education after Nobuhle Nkabane's resignation.[26][27]
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