Mathabatha faces revolt amid claims of ‘betrayal’ at December conference

Is Limpopo ANC provincial chair Stan Mathabatha, who doubles up as the province’s premier, the right person to deliver the party’s provincial January 8 Statement and the subsequent state of the province address (Sopa) this year, observers are asking.

According to the ANC in Limpopo, the province has planned its provincial January 8 Statement in the first week of February in the Waterberg region.

This will be followed by the Sopa and the provincial government will unveil its yearly plan and programmes for the year ahead, as well as reflecting on the province’s success and flops since the last Sopa.

‘He betrayed us’

According to the provincial government, Sopa will be held in Polokwane on 23 February.

At both events, Mathabatha is expected to tasked with the responsibility of delivering keynote addresses.

But there has been controversy after certain ANC branch leaders in Norman Mashabane – the biggest in terms of members – and Waterberg regions, where Mathabatha is not so popular, threatened to boycott any event where he is scheduled to be the main speaker.

The Citizen has received calls from a sizeable number of branch leaders hell-bent on making it difficult for Mathabatha to deliver the speeches.

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The members accuse Mathabatha of betraying them at the party’s 55th December elective conference.

“Mathabatha is a traitor. He betrayed all of us. He betrayed the trust of all the branches of Limpopo and for that we will never forgive him,” Masilo Maloko, chair of the biggest branch in the Norman Mashabane region, Phusela branch in Tzaneen, said yesterday.

Mathabatha ‘no longer our leader’

Another branch leader, Lawrence Mohale of Peter Teanet branch in Thapane, had only this to say: “The provincial executive committee of the ANC had organised a provincial general congress a few days before Nasrec.

“The importance of the congress was to ensure we carry the same mandate to the conference and that the province speaks from the same page. But when we got to the conference, Mathabatha decided to become Judas Iscariot and betrayed us. He must not dare try to speak at both events or else,” warned Mohale.

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Benny Ngoepe, a leader in the Senoamadi branch of the Lephalale subregion, said not only had Mathabatha betrayed the trust of the province, his deputy Florence Radzilani had followed suit.

“Mathabatha and Radzilani are no longer our leaders,” he said.

ANC provincial spokesperson Jimmy Machaka said: “Those who have problems must register their concerns on the right platforms and in the right forums.”

– news@citizen.co.za