ANC puts Supra on team to fix North-West shambles caused by ... Supra

31 August 2018 - 13:46 By Aron Hyman
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At a media briefing on Friday‚ ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said acting premier Job Mokgoro would chair the provincial task team and Supra Mahumapelo would be part of it as a “disciplined member” of the part
At a media briefing on Friday‚ ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said acting premier Job Mokgoro would chair the provincial task team and Supra Mahumapelo would be part of it as a “disciplined member” of the part
Image: TimesLIVE

One of the people on the ANC’s North West provincial task team set up to resolve the political crisis that developed under the leadership of former premier Supra Mahumapelo ...is Mahumapelo.

During a late-night National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Cape Town on Thursday‚ the party leadership decided to disband the provincial executive council and remove Mahumapelo as chairperson.

Mahumapelo’s successor‚ Job Mokgoro‚ took over as interim convenor. Mokgoro replaced Mahumapelo as premier earlier this year after widespread unrest which forced President Cyril Ramaphosa having to cut short a trip to the UK.

An inter-ministerial team found that several municipalities in the province were being mismanaged and irregular spending in the provincial treasury reached R15.3-billion last year.

At a media briefing on Friday‚ ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said Mokgoro would chair the provincial task team and Mahumapelo would be part of it as a “disciplined member” of the party.

The intervention in the province was meant to “strengthen the organisation and enhance its capacity to meet its mandate to the people”‚ he said.

“We have directed the National Working Committee [NWC] to work as soon as possible to reveal the names of the all-inclusive provincial task team which will be reflective of the broad political spectrum of the democratic movement in the North West province.

“We’re still taking our time because we’re effectively consulting to make sure no one is left aside so that we rebuild a new and strengthened African National Congress.

“In the traditions of the ANC and as a disciplined member of the movement‚ Mahumapelo took part in the discussions and fully agreed with the outcome.

“We have agreed that throughout the country our energies will now be spent on making sure that we all work together and that we bring everybody together to refocus their energies on election work.”

The ANC’s grand strategy of unity before next year’s elections may cost the party votes‚ however‚ after it placed two convicted criminals in the Nelson Mandela Bay council‚ including Andile Lungisa‚ the mayoral committee member for infrastructure and engineering.

He was convicted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sentenced to two years’ direct imprisonment after he smashed a glass jug over a councillor’s head in 2016. He served a year in prison.

Lungisa was included on the mayoral committee after the ANC voted for the removal of the DA’s Athol Trollip as mayor in a motion of no-confidence brought by the EFF on Monday.

The party’s bid on Thursday to oust the DA mayor of Tshwane‚ Solly Msimanga‚ failed when the EFF staged a walkout after its motion of no-confidence was dismissed because it did not follow the rules.

Magashule said the ANC was following the “mandate of the people” in its attempts to dethrone the DA in the metros it controls.

When asked why the ANC decided to place two criminals on the mayoral committee in Nelson Mandela Bay‚ he replied: “We believe in rehabilitation.”


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