‘Many will welcome recall of Masualle’
Premier’s departure no longer a matter of if, but when, says political analyst
EASTERN Cape premier Phumulo Masualle’s imminent recall from the province’s top job will likely be welcomed by many. This is according to political analyst professor Somadoda Fikeni, who believes Masualle’s early departure from the premiership is no longer a matter of if, but when.
Fikeni believes the people of the province long for change, and that Masualle’s fence-sitting style of leadership had exacerbated a negative atmosphere between him and the ANC provincial executive, which reportedly wants him out.
He believes the axe over Masualle’s head would have fallen long ago had the ANC national executive not had its hands full with urgent national matters like recalling Jacob Zuma as president, to deal with premiers’ recalls.
The analyst believes the national executive’s silence on Masualle’s future was more of a strategic approach to avoid its own overload, but with Zuma’s recall now out of the way, that of his provincial counterpart is now imminent.
“The ANC national executive would not have recalled the president of the country and go for a premier at the same time because they have had a lot of weighty issues on their table, but one thing is for sure – we all can see that change is coming in the Eastern Cape,” Fikeni said.
The Oscar Mabuyane-led provincial executive’s submission to the national executive for Masualle’s departure would be strengthened by its support of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential bid before the Nasrec conference.
The SACP, of which Masualle is a central committee member, had taken a hard line against Zuma, but Masualle was silent on the topic.
Also, the provincial executive was now more decisive than when it was led by the cautious, “let me not offend anyone” Masualle.
“Remember, the Eastern Cape was the largest province that was firmly behind the CR17 campaign while other big provinces, like Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, were divided.
“So the provincial executive may want to use that as leverage to demand things.” Fikeni said.
Those wanting him to go, the professor said, could rightfully point to his cautious approach to issues and his failure to take decisive action when necessary. Those opposing it might stand for stability. “But what does stability mean when some say there was stability?
“That stability has been stagnant and the people of the Eastern Cape may want to try new things.
“During his tenure there was an outcry about officials not performing but nothing happened to them.” Fikeni cited the dismal matric pass rate, still the lowest in the country, and the Eastern Cape remaining the poorest province and an area of stagnation.
Fikeni believes Masualle started falling out of favour when many decried his cautious leadership style as both premier and ANC provincial chairman before last year’s provincial conference, which picked Mabuyane to take over.
He says this might have led to the Eastern Cape’s fall from grace as a commanding voice in politics at national level despite its rich history as an influential bloc that other provinces have looked to for guidance in the past.
“Since the change of leadership after the ANC provincial conference last year, you could suddenly hear in specific language what the province wanted on several issues, including at national level, which is the Eastern Cape that people know,” he said.
ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi could not be reached for comment yesterday.
However, as previously reported, a special provincial executive meeting was to have been held last week to decide Masualle’s fate, but was shelved indefinitely.
This could be because the matter had not yet been discussed by the national executive.
EASTERN Cape premier Phumulo Masualle delivered what was in all likelihood his last state of the province address in Bhisho on Friday.
Meant to be a significant moment to take stock of his government’s progress in its mandate to develop this province, it missed the mark.
His speech was astonishingly detached from the realities of poor governance in the Eastern Cape.
It provided no clear leadership. It failed to inspire confidence.
Questioned on his performance in the last four years, Masualle arrogantly told the media that if anyone doubted his abilities they should have themselves examined.
This was indeed a low point and a disingenuous effort to deflect attention from his administration’s failure to grow our economy and to change the development landscape of the province.
We accept that Masualle led the campaign to rebuild our provincial road network.
It must also be noted that more work is being done to improve this system, not only for ease of movement but to help create opportunities that may come with such.
However, this has not been enough to turn the fortunes of this province.
On Friday, Masualle and his team failed to articulate plans to improve education and to create sustainable jobs.
They failed to show how they plan to reverse the population migration which has wiped billions of rands from our equitable share of the budget in recent years.
Even more dismal a showing was Masualle’s silence on tangible plans to mitigate the crippling drought.
It was his admittedly deliberate silence on the progress of previously mooted projects such as the uMzimvubu dam.
Of course it must be noted that his poor performance on Friday unfolded in the context of a fraught political climate.
If recent utterances by the provincial ANC leadership are to be believed, he will soon be dislodged from his seat
Provincial leader and MPL Oscar Mabuyane is seemingly preparing to take charge of our provincial government machinery. When exactly this will happen remains unclear.
Here’s what we know for sure.
There are more than six million people who live in this province. They want a functioning government. They want jobs, a growing economy and better opportunities.
This is the mandate they have given to the ANC.
If the party continues to abuse this privilege, citizens will ultimately vote with their feet.