Publications
Partners
The ANC has found a temporary truce in the North West by appointing a stand-in premier for the next 10 months ahead of the elections, as it tries to finds a lasting solution to feuding groups in the province.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule announced the appointment of former North West director-general Tebogo Job Mokgoro on Thursday after a special meeting of the national working committee was held in Wednesday.
“The special national working committee unanimously resolved on the nomination of Professor Job Mokgoro as premier-elect for the North West Province. Professor Mokgoro is a tried and tested administrator, fit enough to deal with the challenges at hand, including creating stability within the provincial administration and effecting the much-needed delivery of basic services,” said Magashule.
His appointment follows a long, drawn-out battle between former premier Supra Mahumapelo and his critics, who pushed for his axing. Mahumapelo was at the press conference of Mokgoro’s announcement where he pledged that the ANC in the province would support him in his work.
Last month, the ANC turned down Mahumapelo’s list of preferred successors – which included some MECs who were still loyal to him.
So when the national executive committee met on Monday a new list of candidates was submitted. This list included the names of Mokgoro (former provincial director-general), Jerry Matjila (South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations), Edna Molewa (minister of environmental affairs) and Susan Dantjie (North West speaker).
City Press reported over the weekend that ANC alliance partner Sanco’s spokesperson Paul Sebegoe had questioned Mokgoro’s name, saying he was the director-general in the premier’s office “when this thing of governance collapse started and you cannot explain it otherwise”.
However, the governing party said Professor Mokgoro was currently responsible for the School of Governance in the North West Provincial Administration, “with an outstanding history of service in South Africa”.
Makgoro holds an honorary doctorate in public administration from the University of Toledo in the United States.
In April 1994 he became the first director-general of the North West administration tasked with rationalising and integrating three government administrations into one North West province.
Mokgoro will be the face of the ANC in the North West for the upcoming elections. Although he is more of a bureaucrat than an active politician, he will be expected to unite the party members and repair the image of the ANC in the eyes of the voters. Violent protests erupted in the provincial capital Mafikeng last month as community members declared a loss of confidence in the ANC government.
The ANC has been criticised on social media for appointing a 70-year-old in a very youthful society.
However, it is expected that Mokgoro will only hold fort until the 2019 elections, after which he is expected to hand over to a new candidate nominated by the party.
The DA’s North West leader Joe McGulwa said Mokgoro’s work would be hamstrung by the fact that the province is deeply factionalised and was still led by Mahumapelo, the ANC provincial chairperson in the province.
“It is well known that Mokgoro is a compromise candidate, therefore his work will focus on appeasing one faction that supports Cyril Ramaphosa, and another faction that depends on the corrupt patronage network created and managed by Mahumapelo.
“While there is a new premier, the old ANC is still fully in power, meaning that the people will continue to suffer,” McGulwa said
