On Tuesday, the ANC in North West announced that Bushy Maape will take over as premier of the province following its instruction to Job Mokgoro to resign.
The move is unsurprising. The North West is a prominent feature on a long list of troublesome ANC regions. Its corridors of power have for years been marred by political instability.
Mokgoro’s squabbles with the interim leadership of the ANC in the province are well-documented. In a party where resisting the imposed official line is a cardinal sin, Mokgoro's defiance against its operational instructions was seen as unforgivable.
Soon after he was installed to clean up his predecessor Supra Mahumapelo's mess, he became a stubborn irritant in the eyes of his comrades. It was a matter of time before the lobbying for him to go began and culminated in his removal this week.
Most important to note for the rest of us is that despite what party members would have us believe, their contention is less about public services and more about political dynamics which ensure access to power and by extension, state patronage.
Such preoccupation with power, sadly, comes at a great cost to the general populace.
One was demonstrated by the recent decision by cheese factory Clover to withdraw its operations from Lichtenburg to KwaZulu-Natal because of a collapse of service delivery in the Ditsobotla municipality.
As we report on Wednesday, even after public pronouncements by the provincial government to intervene and try to halt the relocation, not a single meeting has happened with the company since. Instead, Clover has begun to move its operations, a fourth division due to move next month.
To be fair, the lack of intervention was not entirely because of the provincial government's ineptitude but the relationship between the company and authorities had deteriorated so much that by the time it announced its move, the horse had bolted.
The impact has been felt by hundreds of workers and families who have had to make great sacrifices just to hold on to their jobs. More broadly, it worsened the already poor economic prospects for one of the country's least developed areas.
Could it have been prevented? Absolutely. And it should have been.
If only our politicians had for a moment looked up and beyond their self interest to see the worsening deterioration over which they preside.
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