And the first round goes to Supra

The first round goes to North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo in his fight to cling to power as ANC top brass failed to remove him, and long hours of behind-the-scenes discussions produced zero results.

Loss was written on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s face as he announced that further engagement would take place around all the grievances of the protesters.

It was clear that there was no agreement on Mahumapelo’s resignation.

“We have decided to engage further with the community,” a clearly exhausted Ramaphosa told journalists in Mahikeng this evening.

He appealled for calm from Mahikeng citizens so as to give the ANC a chance to come up with a speedy resolution to their demands.

“We will be able to come to a rational decision…we will look at all sides. We assure everyone that we are going to act speedily to address each of these matters,” he said.

On Tuesday Mahikeng residents took to the streets to demand Mahumapelo’s resignation over corruption and failure to deliver public services by his government.

The protest spread to Zeerust where residents barricaded the main road leading to Botswana. The protesters also demanded service delivery including the improvement of roads, health and education infrastructure.

Earlier the ANC assured the protesters that it heard their grievances and would work hard to resolve them.

Party spokesperson Pule Mabe condemned the violence, stressing that the ANC would not promote the destruction of property. 

He said the ANC would find a solution that would be consistent with its resolve to achieve unity and renewal of the ANC.

“People must allow us time to resolve this matter in their best interest. The ANC is committed to finding a solution to the issues they have raised,” Mabe said.

The meeting was called by Ramaphosa who returned to South African after cutting short his trip to the Commonwealth heads of government summit in London. His entourage to today’s meetiung included his deputy David Mabuza, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte and national executive committee deployees in the province.

The discussions were attended by all provincial ANC structures, the representatives of tripartite alliance partners and ANC veterans.

Also invited to the gathering for their inputs were former ANC provincial leaders and Mahumapelo opponents such as China Dodovu and Nono Maloyi, and ANC Youth League president Collen Maine. 

The SACP, Cosatu, Sanco and Young Communist League, the youth wing of the SACP, are openly opposed to Mahumapelo and had been gunning for his head for some time.

The SACP and YCL had been vocal in their opposition to Mahumapelo’s leadership and had been accusing him of corruption and keeping corrupt officials in his administration.

Mahumapelo’s office and that of provincial director-general, Lydia Sebego, were recently raided by the Hawks on suspicion of their involvement in corrupt activities. Under tremendous political pressure from within the ANC and its allies, Mahumapela this week suspended provincial health head, Thabo Lekalakala, who is also accused of corruption.

This week Magashule and Duarte led a delegation to the province to meet with the provincial executive committee, the Alliance partners and the ANC caucus. On the agenda was the plan by some ANC MPLs to vote in favour of the EFF-initiated motion of no-confidence in Mahumapelo. 

It was agreed not to vote with the opposition but to oppose the motion.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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