ANC North West meets alliance partners amid 'reshuffle' hints by Job Mokgoro

05 August 2020 - 13:12 By aphiwe deklerk
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Last month North West premier Job Mokgoro said he would reshuffle his cabinet this month, but the ANC said he has yet to engage with the party about a proposed reshuffle.
Last month North West premier Job Mokgoro said he would reshuffle his cabinet this month, but the ANC said he has yet to engage with the party about a proposed reshuffle.
Image: Thapelo Morebudi

The ANC and its alliance partners in North West will meet this week for what is expected to be a tense gathering amid moves by premier Job Mokgoro to reshuffle his cabinet.

Late last month Mokgoro said he would be reshuffling his cabinet amid a silent war with his party, the ANC.

However, the ANC said a reshuffle was not on the cards as the premier had yet to engage the party about his proposed reshuffle.

Mokgoro met the ANC provincial working committee last week and tabled his report on his cabinet's performance, but party insiders said he did not speak about his intention to reshuffle.

His spokesperson, Vuyisile Ngesi, confirmed that Mokgoro met the ANC to present his report, and said the party would discuss it with its alliance partners.

ANC insiders were adamant the party would not discuss any plans for a reshuffle because Mokgoro had not formally brought the matter before them.

“At that meeting, he presented only his report on his executive,” said an ANC insider.

He said a previous meeting of the provincial leadership had resolved that since Mokgoro had not presented a review of his executive and given reasons why he wanted to move his MECs around, the matter would not go ahead.

“As far as we are concerned, there is no reshuffle. He was made to understand he is a deployee of the ANC and that if he wants to reshuffle, he must first discuss the matter with the province."

After a discussion with the province, the matter would be discussed at the level of the alliance and then escalated to national officials of the ANC to get the green light.

"He was made aware of this,” said another ANC insider who has been closely involved in discussions about the reshuffle. 

ANC convenor in the province, Hlomane Chauke, confirmed the ANC will be holding its alliance summit.

He said, however, the main discussion would be about the performance of Mokgoro's government and not about his intentions to reshuffle.

“Our engagement is more about government and government matters in which we have an interest. To look at matters of service delivery. This is the engagement we have now, where we identified weaknesses and feel the province needs to do work,” said Chauke.

He said in their engagements with Mokgoro, the reshuffle has not  been raised. 

“The matters of redeployment or reshuffle are matters we have not discussed,” said Chauke.

Chauke said other issues the party had with the provincial government was that a number of departments were under administration by the national government, and it was difficult for the province to do an assessment of them.

TimesLIVE


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