The ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) in the North West has instructed premier Job Mokgoro to resign from the helm of the provincial administration as well as the party’s MPL in the provincial legislature as it announced Struggle veteran Bushy Maape as the premier-elect.
The push to completely remove Mokgoro came after intensified power battles over the control of the provincial government between him and the IPC, which is subjecting him to a disciplinary hearing for defiance.
Ahead of the unveiling of Maape, a former Robben Island prisoner, as the incoming premier, ANC supporters opposed to Mokgoro’s removal staged a protest outside the ANC provincial office in Mahikeng where they burnt tyres and vowed to resist his removal from office.
IPC coordinator Hlomane Chauke said the party had already told Mokgoro it was expecting his resignation letter.
“He has to resign even from the legislature. That is why we are currently working with him to receive his resignation letter so as to create space for the incoming comrade to be sworn in as the member of the legislature,” Chauke said.
The IPC briefing was however conspicuous with the absence of Mokgoro despite Chauke’s reassurance that he would comply with the directive that he step down and be redeployed outside the provincial government.
The ANC and government have been engulfed in protracted instability over the years which saw most of its premiers never finishing their term of office and with the provincial government being placed under administration in 2018.
Mokgoro was brought into the province by the ANC in 2018 to take over and bring stability after the removal of then premier Supra Mahumapelo but Chauke said the current provincial leadership was no longer happy with his leadership of government and his defiant posture to the IPC.
“He is appearing before the disciplinary committee of the ANC for not carrying [out the] party mandate. This is part of the weaknesses we are dealing with because what you expect is that all of us must work together. When the party has given a mandate, all of us are bound by that mandate. Nobody has authority to do his own things.”
Chauke said Mokgoro had failed to lead the stabilisation of local government as many municipalities in the province were plagued by problems and collapsed under his watch.
“As we speak it is the people of the North West [who] are suffering and the ANC cannot sit back and say, 'because we are going to be seen to be creating instability in the leaders, we can’t intervene'. We believe that he has played his part and that someone else must come and take over and run this province.”
Mokgoro is yet to publicly speak on the decision to replace him, which has been endorsed by the ANC national leadership and alliance partners.
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