Luthuli House swoops on North West to deal with Supra problems

The ANC will descend on the North West on Wednesday when its leaders are expected, among others, to deal with the motion of no confidence aimed at ousting Premier Supra Mahumapelo.

The governing party’s national working committee was expected to meet the provincial executive committee in the Hartbeestpoort Dam area, in an action seen by many as a delayed intervention by Luthuli House.

The ANC provincial spokesperson, Gerald Modise, confirmed that the meeting between the provincial executive committee and the national working committee would take place tomorrow. He said the working committee would also meet the ANC provincial legislature caucus, who had already been reprimanded, in advance, against voting with the opposition to remove Mahumapelo.

Modise referred City Press to the party’s national spokesperson Pule Mabe, who did not answer his phone or respond to messages when asked about the meeting’s agenda.

It was, however, understood that the ANC was not happy about the current state of affairs in the North West, including clear disunity in the party in which Mahumapelo’s support was gradually dwindling. The party leadership was expected to mend the divisions and provide guidance on how the motion of no confidence on Mahumapelo should be dealt with.

One thing the ANC would not allow was for its own members in the provincial legislature to vote out one of their own in a motion initiated by the opposition.

The meeting was set to happen a day after the Economic Freedom Fighters managed to get speaker of the provincial legislature, Susan Dantjie, to postpone its motion of no confidence in Mahumapelo. The EFF wanted this motion put on ice until a court had decided whether voting should be done by secret ballot.

Mahumapelo loses ANC support in legislature

City Press previously reported that some ANC members of the provincial legislature (MPLs) were ready to vote with and support the EFF’s motion. They were, however, afraid that they would be punished if they voted for Mahumapelo’s ousting in an open ballot.

It had become clear in recent months that Mahumapelo was losing support with some MPLs, who have previously not dared challenge or speak out on alleged corruption in the province.

Some said Mahumapelo’s power and hold on them had vaporised after Cyril Ramaphosa emerged as the ANC leader in December, defeating Mahumapelo’s preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The EFF initiated the motion of no confidence after Mahumapelo’s office was raided by the Hawks, who were investigating, among others, a dubious IT contract worth more than R200 million. Questions were raised on why Mahumapelo’s office would spend so much money on a IT tender while they had a cheaper option of using state-owned IT service providers.

North West health services in disarray

Mahumapelo also came under fire after it emerged that several other multimillion-rand tenders were irregularly awarded under his watch. One of those questionable contracts was the R180-million tender for mobile clinic services – which was awarded in an unsolicited tender process to Mediosa, a Gupta-linked company. The same company was later paid R30 million as an advance before they had started doing any work.

It also emerged that the North West health department was using privately owned ambulances, Buthelezi EMS, for inter-facility transfers of patients while about 40 of its own brand new ambulances were parked in the sun.

These are just but some of the issues that were raised and interrogated by the provincial legislature’s portfolio committees. The committee on health had since opened a case on Mediosa with the Hawks.

All this came at a time when health services in the North West were near collapse as the strike by employees escalated, leaving patients struggling to access services.

Workers – and social workers – at the province’s social development department have also been on strike for almost three months.

The National Health Education and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) in the province had threatened a total shutdown of services in the province, saying Mahumapelo’s administration was not attending to workers’ grievances. They have also called for the his removal.

Supra supporters brave rain in march to legislature

While others, including those in support of a motion of no confidence on Mahumapelo, had backed off after the sitting was postponed this morning, supporters of the beleaguered premier braved the rain and marched to the North West provincial legislature to express their support for the premier and to call for him to be left alone.

The ANC in the province also released a statement this morning saying they “have got faith in Premier Supra Mahumapelo to lead the province to achieving the most for our people who have trusted our movement with their votes”.

In their memorandum to the speaker earlier today, the marching group said: “The ANC in the North West places on record that it has full confidence in the leadership of Supra Mahumapelo, both as premier and chairperson of the ANC in the province”.

Maine, Mahumapelo and the Guptas

In another twist, the ANC Youth League leader Collen Maine said during a memorial service for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Matlosana that Mahumapelo was the one who introduced him to the controversial Gupta family. It was previously reported that the Guptas backed Maine’s bond on a R5 million house in Tshwane.

Supra’s son irregularly awarded bursary

Adding insult to injury, it emerged in news reports over the weekend that Mahumapelo’s son was awarded a R1.1 million bursary by Denel to study towards a pilot qualification.

The Democratic Alliance’s spokesperson for public enterprises, Natasha Mazzone, said that she had laid “criminal charges of fraud and corruption against Mahumapelo and Denel chief executive, Zwelakhe Ntshepe, in terms of the Public Finance Management Act”.

“Over the weekend, reports emerged that Ntshepe signed off on a R1.1 million Denel bursary for Mahumapelo’s son without following due procedure. Mahumapelo’s son is currently studying at a Port Alfred aviation school which did not form part of Denel’s list of accredited schools. Furthermore, Denel bursaries have generally only covered the fields of IT, engineering, finances, and business management,” Mazzone said.

	Poloko Tau Journalist City Press p: +27 11 713 9001 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: poloko.tau@citypress.co.za
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