DA, EFF in North West reject ANC’s efforts to remove mayors, speakers

Opposition parties in the North West have described a decision by the ANC’s interim provincial committee (IPC) in the province to recall five troikas in municipalities as nothing but factional politics, and they want nothing to do with it.

The DA and the EFF say they will not help the ANC remove the mayors, speakers, and whips in five municipalities after a call by the party for them to step down fell on deaf ears.

The affected municipalities are Mahikeng, Ditsabotla, Maquassi Hills, Matlosana, and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati.

Last week the spokesperson for the ANC’s tentative leadership, Kenny Morolong told News24 the interim provincial working committee would meet to discuss the situation and map a way forward

The party had described this as part of cleaning up a province marred by poor service delivery and constant political battles within the ANC.

But opposition parties would not have it.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with service delivery, we are just witnessing the ANC’s infighting,” EFF provincial chairperson Matshidiso Botswe told News24.

He said if the IPC’s intentions were genuine, it would have targeted more troubled municipalities.

“Those who are not performing are not part of the troikas being recalled, just thinking of Bojanala, Ngaka Modiri Molema, or even JB Marks,” continued the EFF provincial chairperson.

The province has been under administration since 2018, with the province also placing numerous municipalities under administration.

The collapse of service delivery, financial distress, and political instability have been cited amongst reasons behind the intervention.

Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu said none of the province’s municipalities had achieved a clean audit.

Mess

DA provincial leader Joe McGluwa not only echoed similar sentiments in his statement, but also urged other opposition parties to stand back.

“The time has come to let the ANC deal with the mess the ANC has created,” said McGluwa.

He said opposition parties should not give “credence” to the “futile exercise”, which will see one set of ANC leaders being replaced by another set.

The DA leader said his party had warned that the decision by the IPC would be rejected, adding that the current battle playing itself out in the platinum-rich province were not new.

“The ANC is trying to realign preferred factions to positions of power and access to resources to continue the looting and theft of taxpayer money, which is ultimately the goal of this recall,” he argued.

Botswe expressed similar sentiments, saying when one reads the situation in the North West one should never forget that a provincial conference is on the horizon for the governing party, and that many were scrambling to access resources for their campaigns.

“The ANC in North West exists purely for its own selfish interests. It is time that people of North West reject and abandon the ANC at the ballot box next year,” said McGluwa.

He said the province continued to have potential to become functional and prosperous, but that the only way to achieve this was through booting out the ANC.

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