Mbatha-Cele is from Amajuba in KwaZulu-Natal.[1] She was the Mayor of Newcastle[2] in Amajuba until May 2007, when opposition parties in the Newcastle council collaborated to remove her and her deputy from office; she was replaced by Mercy Dube of the Inkatha Freedom Party.[3] By 2015, she was the Deputy Regional Secretary of the ANC's eMalahleni regional branch in KwaZulu-Natal.[4] She was still in that office on 29 August 2016, when she sworn in as a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature; she filled a casual vacancy created by the resignation of Makhosini Nkosi, who became Mayor of Newcastle after the 2016 local elections.[1]
In May 2018, Mbatha-Cele was elected Deputy Regional Chairperson of the ANC in eMalahleni, deputising Ntuthuko Mahlaba.[5] She was elected to her first full term in the legislature in the 2019 general election, ranked 36th on the ANC's provincial party list.[6] However, in September 2021, she was succeeded as ANC Deputy Regional Chairperson by Phumzile Mgcina.[7]