Gauteng’s Makhura is on his way out, North West premier safe
THE job of North West Premier Bushy Maape is safe for now, despite the fact that he lost his battle to become the ANC provincial chairperson to the incumbent Nono Maloyi.
This was confirmed by Maloyi yesterday when he addressed the media about the outcome of his party’s first provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting, in Rustenburg, yesterday.
Maloyi was answering media questions about the future of Maape in the North West legislature after ANC members in Gauteng took a decision to recall Premier David Makhura.
However, that was hampered after it was found that the party’s Gauteng executive apparently failed to follow proper procedures before making such a decision. As a result, Makhura will stay on for now, but has already indicated his intention to hand over the baton.
Insiders told Independent Media that the Gauteng ANC leadership had also failed to communicate its decision with the top leadership of the ANC, particularly President Cyril Ramaphosa, who appoints premiers in ANC-led provinces.
The decision in Gauteng comes after KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala resigned from his position after losing the ANC provincial chairperson position in the provincial elective conference.
In the North West, however, Maloyi told the media that the future of Maape as premier was “not on the agenda of the provincial executive committee”.
Maloyi also confirmed that his party would be defending a legal challenge in the Constitutional Court, in which five aggrieved members have asked the court to declare the election of his PEC “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
The application to the Concourt followed a failed application in the Mahikeng High Court on August 25, in which four members asked the court to interdict the conference, but failed due to lack of urgency.
This prompted the applicants to approach the Concourt on an urgent basis, asking that the decision of the ANC national executive committee to take over control of the provincial conference on August 13 and 14 be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.
They want the Concourt to order the ANC to appoint an interim provincial committee in terms of the ANC constitution pending the election of a lawfully constituted PEC. The ANC has to Friday to file their answering affidavit.