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More heads to roll as ANC cleans up North West

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Job Mokgoro
Job Mokgoro

More heads are set to roll in North West after Supra Mahumapelo lost his position as provincial leader, and the director-general of the provincial government, Lydia Sebego, resigned.

City Press has learnt that newly appointed North West ANC convenor Job Mokgoro had already indicated to the ANC that he wanted to make changes in the executive council and leadership of state-owned entities, following an “in-depth assessment of the provincial government performance across departments”.

“We are now clear as to what changes are required in which departments or state-owned entities in the province. This matter is being managed through a dynamic consultation process with both the national and provincial structures of the governing party, the ANC,” Mokgoro told City Press.

He sounded like a man with a spring in his step, saying proudly that under his stewardship the provincial government was “in a better state of health” than it was before he took over from Mahumapelo at the end of June.

Mokgoro said his confidence was informed by the cleared tensions “that may have impeded on the work of the provincial government”, adding that “the North West will emerge stronger than we were prior to the section 100 (i) intervention”, referring to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision in May to place 10 provincial departments under administration by the central government.

“Progress to lay a proper foundation for quality service delivery has been made in terms of the implementation of the stated interventions and some key milestones reached in the past two months,” said Mokgoro, whose role as the face of the provincial ANC for the general elections next year was cemented on Friday when a special ANC national executive committee in Cape Town named him as the new convenor of the North West ANC interim task team, taking over the role of the now former chairperson Mahumapelo.

Eight municipalities were set to be placed under administration effective from yesterday, including Kagisano-Molopo in Ganyesa, Ramotshere Moiloa in Zeerust, Ditsobotla in Lichtenburg, Kgetleng River in Koster, Maquassi Hills in Wolmaransstad, Naledi in Vryburg as well as Mahikeng and Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipalities in the provincial capital, which would further dislodge some of Mahumapelo’s allies.

The long-standing move to dissolve Mahumapelo’s executive was likely to put the brakes on plans by the those in the Mahumapelo camp to dominate the upcoming election list conferences to ensure that they were returned to key government posts after the general elections next year.

“They must dare take Supra out and they will see how we will come back and reclaim government. Supra is working the ground,” said an ANC councillor in Mafikeng last weekend following a province-wide assessment process on the state of the organisation led by ANC heavyweights.

The councillor said he was not necessarily loyal to Mahumapelo as a person, but to “the force” behind him, referring to his supporters.

A lobby had also been launched for Mahumapelo to be appointed as the interim coordinator, which would make him second in command after Mokgoro, and a key decision maker in overseeing the smooth running of internal processes, including disputes lodged by branches.

Those behind the campaign would have been emboldened when on Friday ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule drummed up the need for “inclusivity” as a key principle when the final list of task team members would be considered.

“The special session directed the national working committee to convene as soon as possible to finalise and convey to the public names of an all-inclusive provincial task team that will be reflective of the broad political spectrum of the democratic movement in the North West province,” said Magashule, a known ally of Mahumapelo, adding that the ANC would “take time to ensure that no one should be left aside”.

He said Mahumapelo had been part of the deliberations at the Cape Town meeting and he had accepted the decision.

Mokgoro told City Press that there had been stability returning to governance and service delivery since he took over.

Critical contracts were under review with the aim to “weed out” those who were found to be irregular so as to contain expenditure across all government departments and state-owned entities.

He said “audit queries and findings are being addressed so as to restore the credibility of supply management practices”.

Mokgoro said the municipalities under administration were characterised by serious challenges, including negative audit outcomes; lack of internal controls in place to prevent unauthorised; irregular and wasteful expenditure; lack of administrative capacity owing to high vacancy levels especially in senior management; and poor revenue collection, which impacts on the ability to pay creditors such as water boards and Eskom on time.

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