A non-profit organisation (NPO) that was aimed at helping the youth get employment has now been registered as a political party in Mpumalanga.

The NPO was established by Deputy President David Mabuza while he was still the premier of the province.

During its launch, he told thousands of residents in Nkomazi that Practical Radical Economic Transformation (PRET) was his idea to help the youth get employment across the province.

PRET president Themba Sgudla has now registered it as a political party, meaning they would contest elections.

PRET supported Minister in the Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in December to take over as president of the ANC during the Nasrec conference. They, however, lost to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Although Sowetan has seen a copy of PRET's registration with Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to become a political party in March, Sgudla has disputed that they have registered PRET as a political organisation.

He said there were people who were trying to hijack the NPO. "They are lying, PRET is still an NPO ... these guys are just opportunistic."

He said PRET's mandate has not changed.

IEC commissioner in Mpumalanga Steve Ngwenya confirmed that they received an application from PRET but that he's not aware of who forwarded the application.