Mpumalanga, Free State get female premiers

President Cyril Ramaphosa is serious about achieving renewal, party unity and gender equality in the ANC.

Yesterday, the ruling party appointed Bathabile Dlamini’s ally, Sisi Ntombela, as Free State premier and Refilwe Mtsweni as premier of Mpumalanga.

Ntombela is deputy president of the women’s league and a close associate of Dlamini. Both had campaigned vigorously against Ramaphosa and in favour of the former African Union Commission chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in the run-up to the party’s Nasrec conference.

Ntombela replaces Ace Ma- gashule, now the ANC secretary-general, while Mtsweni takes over from David Mabuza, who was elevated to ANC deputy president and, subsequently, the country’s deputy president.

Dlamini, in a radio interview, praised Ramaphosa’s unifying leadership style and for giving her and others who opposed him during the ANC election campaign a chance to participate in his government. Dlamini said there was a strong campaign against her and Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane prior to the recent Cabinet appointments.

Magashule said he believed the two female premiers-elect would take the party’s radical socioeconomic transformation forward. He said of their appointments,

The nomination of the premiers-elect demonstrates that the ANC is a true nonsexist organisation and continues to recognise the existing leadership capacity of the women within our organisation.

Ace Magashule ANC secretary-general

which would be ratified by their respective provincial legislatures: “The nomination of the premierselect demonstrates that the ANC is a true nonsexist organisation and continues to recognise the existing leadership capacity of the women within our organisation”.

Interestingly, both Ntombela and Mtsweni were MECs for cooperative governance and traditional affairs in their respective provinces.

With her appointment, Mtsweni would become the first female premier of Mpumalanga, while Ntombela would be the fourth after Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi, Winkie Direko and Beatrice Marshoff.

Magashule said the controversial ANC interim task team in the Free State has been expanded, with six more members added in response to a complaint by dissatisfied members that they were excluded from the committee.

But in their response yesterday, the spokesperson for these disgruntled members, Ike Moroe, rejected the decision as a “perpetuation of factional fault lines” that existed in the Free State.

“I don’t think it will resolve the problem that we have in the province. I hope that in due course the NEC would apply its mind on the issue and reconfigure the PTT in a way to ensure unity of the ANC in the Free State,” Moroe said.

He said while Ntombela’s appointment was the president’s prerogative, they disagreed with it.