After serving in several committees in the legislature,[3] Maswanganyi was appointed to the Executive Council of Limpopo under Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who appointed him as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Local Government and Housing. In this capacity, in early 2002, Maswanganyi became the figurehead of a government campaign to change the names of major cities in the province, including by renaming the capital, Pietersburg, as Polokwane.[6] Maswanganyi said the current names were "a sad reminder of a history of oppressive colonial practices".[7] The opposition Freedom Front said that it would protest the scheme through civil disobedience by withholding municipal property taxes.[8]
In 2004, Maswanganyi was moved to a new portfolio as MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture in 2004.[2] He was sacked from that position in November 2006 in a reshuffle by Ramatlhodi's successor, Premier Sello Moloto.[9] He was succeeded by Joyce Mashamba, who hailed him for having "unified the nation" during his time in the portfolio.[10] Moloto subsequently denied that Maswanganyi's dismissal was part of a "purge" of his opponents; instead, he said that Maswanganyi had followed improper procedure in employing about 200 community development workers.[11]
ANC Provincial Secretary
On 20 July 2008, at a provincial party elective conference at the University of Venda, Maswanganyi was elected to the influential position of Provincial Secretary of the Limpopo branch of the ANC. He served under newly elected Provincial Chairperson Cassel Mathale, and Pinky Kekana was elected as his deputy.[12] Although Maswanganyi, Mathale, and other top leaders were perceived, at the time of their election, as united in their support for ANC president Jacob Zuma,[13] Mathale later fell out with Zuma, while Maswanganyi remained a supporter.[14]
At the party's next provincial elective conference in December 2011, Maswanganyi stood for re-election on a slate of candidates aligned to Joe Phaahla, who sought to unseat Mathale from the chairmanship at the same conference.[15][16][17][18] However, he was defeated by Soviet Lekganyane, who received 601 votes to Maswanganyi's 517.[19]
Just after midnight in the early hours of 31 March 2017, President Zuma announced a controversial cabinet reshuffle in which Maswanganyi was appointed to replace Dipuo Peters as Minister of Transport.[22] His deputy was Sindisiwe Chikunga.[23] In the immediate aftermath of the announcement, the national Automobile Association expressed concern about Peters's abrupt and unexplained dismissal.[24] However, the Mail & Guardian was less surprised by Maswanganyi's promotion, noting that the ANC Youth League and Limpopo ANC had "long punted him for a position in the cabinet"; indeed, the newspaper said that he "may hold the record as the politician who has been most often tipped to be elevated to high office only to be passed over time and again".[25]
By the end of the year, the Mail & Guardian said that Maswanganyi appeared still "to be searching for his bearings" in the ministry.[26] During the same period, he received media coverage for undertaking to appoint Dudu Myeni, the controversial former chairperson of South African Airways, as a special adviser in his office; defending the appointment, he told the Sunday Times that he "needed someone with aviation experience".[27][28]
At the ANC's 54th National Conference at Nasrec in December 2017, Maswanganyi was elected to a five-year term as a member of the party's National Executive Committee. By number of votes received, he was ranked 49th of the 80 ordinary members elected to the committee.[29] However, ahead of the conference, he backed the losing presidential candidate: he was viewed as a key Limpopo lobbyist of Zuma's preferred successor, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,[30][31] who was beaten at the conference by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In February 2018, Ramaphosa was further elected to succeed Zuma as President of South Africa. In his first cabinet reshuffle, announced on 26 February, he sacked Maswanganyi, replacing him with Blade Nzimande.[32] Maswanganyi remained in the National Assembly as an ordinary Member of Parliament.[4]
Committee chairperson
On 30 May 2018, ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu announced that the party would nominate Maswanganyi to chair Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration.[33] He was formally elected to the position at a committee meeting later the same day.[34] He succeeded Mathale, his former rival, whom Ramaphosa had appointed as a deputy minister.[33]
In the 2019 general election, Maswanganyi was comfortably re-elected to the National Assembly, ranked 21st on the ANC's national party list.[4] After the election, the ANC announced that it would nominate him to chair the Standing Committee on Finance;[35] he was formally elected, unopposed, on 2 July 2019.[36] After his election, he told press that he would seek to ensure that longstanding investigations into misconduct at Steinhoff and VBS Mutual Bank would "reach a conclusion" during his tenure in the chair.[37]
At the ANC's next national conference in December 2022, he was re-elected to the National Executive Committee, ranked 39th; he received 1,317 votes across about 4,000 ballots.[38]
