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The Revolutionary Council, which was labelled “anti-revolutionary” by Supra Mahumapelo, has challenged the outgoing North West premier to “prove just how anti-revolutionary we are because we have proof why we’re saying he is corrupt and incompetent”.
Mahumapelo, who is turning 50 in two weeks’ time, resigned earlier on Wednesday but politely said he was taking an “early retirement” from being premier.
He is seen as having finally succumbed to political and public pressure for him to step down or be removed by the ANC.
The Revolutionary Council, which is described by its members as a platform for disgruntled ANC members and members of the public to express themselves against corruption and maladministration, has also been vocal with its calls for Mahumapelo to be removed as premier.
Addressing the media at a press briefing held at Luthuli House on Wednesday, Mahumapelo said he was bowing out as premier to allow investigations into allegations of corruption – in which he has been implicated – to go on without him being accused of abusing his office to protect himself.
He said he would be accused of defending himself through his office if he continued to stay as premier “when counter revolutionary is embedded in the Revolutionary Council”.
Mahumapelo said the ANC in the province would “attend to this counter revolution”.
The Revolutionary Council has, in its reaction to this, said they were ready for him to “bring it on”.
“Yes, we’ve been saying he is corrupt and incompetent and the Section 100 (1) invoked on the provincial administration is actually an indication that things we’ve been raising are indeed correct.
"[Mahumapelo] must define counter revolutionary for us ... We have raised issues of incompetence and corruption ...
"We believe the responsibility of a revolutionary is to deal with incompetence and corruption where we see and call for the ANC government to respond to the needs of our people,” said Thato Wa Magogodi of the Revolutionary Council.
Magogodi said Mahumapelo’s statement about building unity and “at the same time wanting to deal with people who have been calling for his removal for the reasons we’ve stated is very schizophrenic – as we’ve expected – and we’re not surprised”.
Nevertheless, he said, “we’re going to have to say to him if he’s making a threat – as he is saying the might of the organisation is going to be unleashed on us – he needs to know that we have the might of the people that will defend us, so we’re ready for whatever disciplinary processes, if that is what he will do”.
He said they had evidence to prove why they labelled Mahumapelo “corrupt and incompetent”.
“Fortunately we have enough evidence about things we have been raising ... so he has nothing on us.
"We have done nothing un-organisational ... the only thing we done is engage in unorthodox methods of cleaning the organisation [the ANC] because we have exhausted all avenues of the organisation and clearly we found no joy hence we decided on unorthodox method of exposing bad things,” Magogodi said.
“There’s no such thing as political management of corruption that we would have accepted and anybody who would have said we must politically manage corruption within the organisation will be counter revolutionary because they would be saying corruption is correct.
"Everybody knows we did this in the interest of the ANC but most importantly in the interests of our people.”
The SA Communist Party in the province, which said Mahumapelo’s resignation was long overdue, reiterated the Revolutionary Council’s statement.
“People can’t be called counter revolutionary just because those in power do not agree with them. We have a responsibility to unite and not to say you will deal with people in public,” said the SACP’s provincial secretary Madoda Sambatha.
Remaining at the helm of the ANC – Mahumapelo only let go of the government seat – seem not to sit well. The Revolutionary Council said it was like “putting plaster on a cracked wall”.
“The provincial executive committee saw nothing wrong with Mahumapelo and his leadership, when national government was quick to notice just how bad things were, hence the Section 100(1) intervention.
"If the provincial committee saw nothing wrong then it means there is something wrong with them and they must be disbanded. Until then, the battle is not over,” said Magogodi.
He added that Mahumapelo’s departure was not worth a celebration when he was still in charge through the ANC in the province.
There was wide interest on the matter, with many seen gathered around cars and taxis listening to what was unfolding at Luthuli House earlier on Wednesday.
But it was business as usual at the end of it.
The SACP said it was leaving it all in the hands of the ANC’s national executive committee sitting at the weekend to appease the people in the name of reuniting the party in the province and disband the provincial executive committee.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have welcomed Mahumapelo’s resignation.
“The North West province will take time to recover from the maladministration and rampant corruption under Mahumapelo. He is leaving the province in a really bad shape,” said Economic Freedom Fighters member of provincial legislature Alfred Motsi.
The Democratic Alliance in the province said Mahumapelo’s departure was a “step in the right direction towards bringing order and stability to the North West, which has been besieged by violent protest action after years of ANC mismanagement and callous leadership”.
The party’s provincial leader Joe McGluwa said he should not be let off the hook.
“Mahumapelo’s ‘early retirement’ does not shield him from accounting for the long list of corruption allegations which have been closely associated with him. He represents only the tip of an iceberg and therefore his exit will not miraculously fix the province’s deep problems of corruption, service delivery collapse and joblessness.
"The reality is that President Cyril Ramaphosa has accommodated Mahumaphelo’s lies and arrogance for too long ... if he had acted swiftly, the province could have been spared the protests and upheaval of the past months.”
