As premier Job Mokgoro continues to block the ANC process to remove him, his backers within the party and opposition political parties in the North West have indicated that they would oppose his removal should the governing party resort to a motion of no confidence .
This comes as the ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) in the troubled province unveiled its veteran Bushy Maape as the new premier-elect, as it accused Mokgoro of refusing to consult and/or tow party line in the running of the provincial administration.
Mokgoro’s sympathisers within the legislature said he could not be individually blamed over the deepened governance challenges in the province, which have seen it been placed under administration since 2018 when Mokgoro was brought in by the ANC national leadership as an intervention.
One ANC MPL said some within the ANC would vote against move to remove Mokgoro if the party did not succeed to persuade him to resign.
“There was no need for all this rush to remove him. The national leadership should have intervened but it seems like that they are leaving it up to the IPC. Even the other contenders [are] better than Maape but they have not be chosen,” the MPL said.
The ANC national leadership has been accused of not reaching out to Mokgoro before the IPC’s move to boot him out despite having headhunted him to take over and help bring governance stability to the province when it fired former premier Supra Mahumapelo.
Sowetan understands that ANC deputy secretary Jessie Duarte had on Wednesday reached out to Mokgoro and the IPC in a bid to resolve the crisis.
ANC chief whip Paul Sebegoe said the party’s divided caucus hoped that the ANC would succeed in resolving the stalemate before it had to trigger a motion of no confidence.
“I don’t think it would lead to that stage. We are hoping that the party will be able through its internal processes to address and resolve this issue,” Sebegoe said.
EFF caucus leader Shakes Botswe said the red berets would reject the motion as he said it was based in ANC factional battles and not in addressing service delivery shortcomings.
“This is not about addressing the problems of governance. Mokgoro has failed yes but more importantly it is the ANC that is failing. We are not supporting him, but the ANC as a whole is beyond repair,” Botswe said.
DA chief whip Freddy Sonakile said the ANC had jumped the gun by announcing Maape as a premier-elect
“We will vote against the motion against him. The ANC knows its dynamics in the North West because some of their MPLs voted with us in January and we elected the chair of chairs, so it will not be easy,” Sonakile said.
Sonakile said while the party had not been happy about Mokgoro’s track record since he took over in 2018 in terms of fixing governance within the provincial government and collapse municipalities, that party had taken leaf in his explanation to the legislature that “strings of governance are being pulled elsewhere”.
“At least he was open about the fact that he is powerless as his own office is under administration which means he has to consult national leadership all the time,” he said.
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