ANC shake-up in Northern Cape

ANOTHER provincial cabinet shake-up is anticipated following a resolution taken at the Northern Cape ANC’s mid-year lekgotla yesterday to place its top five provincial officials into strategic government positions.

ANC provincial chairperson Zamani Saul said it is the first time since the ANC came into power in 1994 that the entire top five in the party were not occupying cabinet positions.

“We need to make honest reflections on the implications that this has on the work of provincial government.”

While it is uncertain who will face the chop, it can be expected that only those MECs who are loyal to the current leadership will retain their posts.

Saul also pointed out that it was not the premier but the ANC the people had voted for.

“The people of the Northern Cape never voted for Sylvia Lucas to be premier, they voted for the ANC. The ANC within its own rights found it fit to deploy her to be the premier of the province.”

Lucas came under fire earlier this year for initially disobeying orders to reverse her controversial cabinet reshuffle, which she executed just before the ANC provincial elective conference in May.

ANC sources did not exclude the possibility of Saul being appointed premier.

Saul yesterday made it clear that “the honeymoon was now over” and urged any member who disagreed with the ANC or its processes to resign.

“In whatever we do, we must avoid disunity within our ranks. To address the challenges confronting the movement we need an organisation that is characterised by internal cohesion. Disunity will polarise our movement, and nobody will benefit from such an outcome,” said Saul.

He stated that it was necessary to resolve conflicts between provincial government and the party.

“It is the ANC and not government that is the centre of power. You cannot have two centres of power.

“As part of building unity within our ranks this provincial executive committee will fight post-conference purging and the dishing out of patronage.

“We will fight the targeting of comrades because of the views or leadership preferences they held leading up to the eighth provincial conference.”

Saul also expressed the province’s “unflinchingly and unwavering” support for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed President Jacob Zuma.

“The organisation needs to be rescued from its current state of paralysis and rampant state capture.”

Saul stated that the ANC would need to “galvanise all its forces” ahead of the 2019 national general elections.

He called for strict discipline to be instituted to reclaim the integrity of the party, which has been battered by corruption allegations.