North West judgment will further split ANC

THE South Gauteng High Court’s ruling which reinstated the disbanded ANC North West provincial committee will ultimately prove to be a pyrrhic victory for Supra Mahumapelo.

The court ruled the ANC’s decision to disband the party’s North West provincial executive was unlawful.

The provincial executive was disbanded at the end of August last year, with Mahumapelo removed as chairperson while Job Mokgoro was appointed as convenor of the provincial task team. Two months earlier, Mokgoro replaced Mahumapelo as premier after several weeks of violent protests across the province.

Mahumapelo had resigned earlier in June, but instead went on “special leave” after “consulting” with the ANC provincial executive, packed with his loyalists.

Mahumapelo’s “resignation” came after the inter-ministerial task team, chaired by Minister in the Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, found that the office of the premier had failed to provide administrative leadership where it mattered.

The North West provincial government had been placed under administration in May 2018 after irregular expenditure had ballooned from R8.6 billion in 2013/14 to more than R15bn in 2017/18.

Before 2013/2014, irregular expenditure had averaged R2.1bn. It has been years since one of the municipalities in the North West got a clean audit with 12 of the 22 municipalities considered either dysfunctional or in financial distress.

Also consider that the North West Health Department signed a controversial tender with the Gupta-linked Mediosa to provide mobile clinics for the North West government.

While he was not initially a supporter of Jacob Zuma, Mahumapelo was eventually pulled into Msholozi’s orbit and supported Dlamini Zuma’s presidential campaign.

A casual observer might think Mahumapelo’s removal as premier was an act of triumphalism from supporters of Cyril Ramaphosa, but that would be too simplistic a reason.

Problems in the North West ANC have been more than two decades in the making, and are closely linked to patronage networks feeding off government tenders – one of the few viable business enterprises in the province.

Yesterday’s court victory by the disbanded North West provincial executive will further entrench factionalism, splitting the ANC ahead of elections.