Supra won’t go quietly
North West premier has plenty support in his corner as the ANC top brass prepare to get rid of him.
‘Influential’ premier knows he has massive support in the province, warns expert.
D-day is looming for North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo as the ANC national executive committee (NEC) prepares to gather to finally axe him on Monday.
But the party could have a tough fight on its hands as his allies in North West have expressed unwavering support for him.
The NEC is expected to put to action a decision taken by the party’s national working committee (NWC) on Wednesday to recall Mahumapelo as premier. A number of sources said Mahumapelo’s axing would be accompanied by the disbanding of his ANC provincial executive committee (PEC).
But political analyst Andre Duvenhage, said it was unlikely to be an easy task to remove Mahumapelo, who commands massive respect within the provincial ANC and at grassroots level.
“You cannot exclude the possibility of violence in North West ... Supra is going to fight, he knows he has strong support and is very influential,” he said.
Already, the provincial leadership expressed its unwavering support for Mahumapelo through a statement issued yesterday. The statement followed a verbal warning from some of the PEC members and his diehard supporters that they would turn the province into a bloodbath, should Mahumapelo be removed.
But some ANC activists opposed to him, including former ANC provincial deputy chairperson China Dodovu, had no doubt that Mahumapelo would be fired on Monday. Dodovu, who had several run-ins with Mahumapelo after he saw him as a threat to his position as chair, said the premier would “be history” by Monday.
Dodovu warned PEC members not to resist the NEC decision to recall Mahumapelo. He was confident Mahumapelo would opt to resign.
“I disagree with the notion that without Supra, this province would not progress. Mahumapelo sidelined many notable and dependable comrades, messed up the entire state system and looted the state completely. This was a pure kleptocratic state that Supra ran,” Dodovu said.
Dodovu and former provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge were marginalised and finally ousted from the ANC leadership by Mahumapelo. Dodovu said he and Mataboge were identified by Mahumapelo as threats.
The NEC had resolved to remove Mahumapelo to avoid further destruction of property by protesters demanding improved services and Mahumapelo’s resignation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa last week deployed a Cabinet task team to intervene to stabilise governance in the province.
ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said the team would meet Mahumapelo to thrash out “constructive options” to resolve the ongoing impasse in the “interest of the people and the movement broadly”.
This was interpreted to mean the NEC would ask Mahumapelo to resign voluntarily, instead of being pushed out. Indications were clear the majority in the ANC NWC favour his ouster.