It remains unclear when North West premier Bushy Maape is likely to return to office after being on sick leave for more than three months after a surgical procedure in June.
On June 22, Maape’s office announced that he was advised by doctors to take leave after undergoing orthopaedic surgery at the Wilmed Park Hospital. Human settlements MEC Nono Maloyi has taken over as acting premier.
Sello Tatai, the premier’s office spokesperson, said though the provincial legislature was regularly updated on Maape’s health status he could not say when he would return to work.
This lack of clarity has opposition parties questioning Maape’s sick leave and return to office.
We last saw Maape in the legislature two days before he was sick and he looked fine, it is shocking to us that after three months there is so much secrecy around his health.
— DA MPL Freddy Sonakile
The DA’s Freddy Sonakile said MPLs were in the dark about Maape’s condition. He said his party was considering tabling a vote of no confidence against Maape.
“One of the grounds for the removal of the premier is incapacity and it has been more than three months. If he is not coming back that means he is not getting better,” he said.
“The acting premier is now coming up with new plans like he knows that he will be in that office for some time. Maloyi has changed plans from what Maape talked about during the state of the province address (Sopa).”
Maloyi beat Maape in the contest for North West ANC chairperson last year. It is generally ANC tradition for provincial chairs to be appointed premier.
Sonakile said some MPLs suspected the ANC was planning to replace Maape with Maloyi.
“We last saw Maape in the legislature two days before he was sick and he looked fine, it is shocking to us that after three months there is so much secrecy around his health. The North West has more than 4-million residents, and though it can be private for them not to divulge on the sickness, they need to tell people that maybe he could be back in two months or something,” Sonakile said.
He said the opposition parties were concerned about the leadership in the province.
“Maape, in his Sopa, said he had a load-shedding plan, and we have not seen that from the acting premier. It might sound insensitive, but if Maape is really sick, why are they keeping him on?”
North West ANC spokesperson Tumelo Maruping dismissed suspicions that the party planned to replace Maape with Maloyi. Maruping told TimesLIVE Premium that Maape was recovering in his home after being discharged from hospital.
“We do not have any decision to replace him and we are not even discussing it. There is no reason to replace comrade Maape, you cannot replace someone due to ill-health. The labour laws allow everyone to be booked off for sick leave and that does not mean they are incapable of their duties.
“As soon as he is okay, the doctors will indicate and he will resume his duties. There have been no discussions to remove him,” Maruping said.
North West ActionSA chairperson Kgosi Kwena Mangope raised concerns about service delivery, saying the acting premier was juggling three jobs.
“As an MEC for co-operative governance and human settlements, Maloyi has repeatedly failed to resolve the issue of service delivery in the province and now it seems like he is reporting to himself. This is not going to help in a province failing on almost every major metric of performance, good governance, and service delivery,” Mangope said.
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