Central SA
North West premier could be axed - analyst─── LUCKY NKUYANE 12:52 Mon, 29 Aug 2022
A political analyst from the University of the Free State (UFS) suggests that the current North West Premier could be removed from office after he failed to make it to the additional member list of the ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC).
ALSO READ: North West Premier, former ANC IPC convenor fails to make cut
The analyst, Prof. Sethulego Matebesi, tells OFM News that with the latest developments, the PEC Chairperson, Nono Maloyi, and his comrades may change their minds about recalling Premier Bushy Maape. Maape and the former convenor of the ANC’s interim structure, called the Interim Provincial Committee (IPC), Hlomane Chauke, failed to make it onto a list of 30 members after the ANC’s 9th Provincial Elective Conference this past weekend. Matebesi says once again that different factions were at play at the conference but there has never been a situation where a sitting premier does not make it onto the PEC’s additional list.
This weekend the conference went ahead to elect additional PEC members and to also have discussions around the policy position of the ANC going to December's national conference.
“There might be a possibility that they may now ask him to vacate his office based on the outcome of this weekend’s elections. But also if you look at another veteran who has been around the ANC in the North West province for many years, Hlomane Chauke, that is very alarming and I strongly believe that there might be a possibility that they might be asked to vacate their positions,” he adds.
Matebesi says the ANC’s unity talk is conference rhetoric. In his analysis, he has cited KwaZulu-Natal’s situation where former Premier, Sihle Zikala, vacated office after failing to reclaim the PEC Chairmanship, which he lost to current KwaZulu-Natal ANC's PEC chairperson, Siboniso Duma.
“If you look at KZN, the same sentiments were echoed that no action will be taken against people who had a different opinion or were part of a different slate. We saw a couple of days thereafter that action was taken against opponents within KwaZulu-Natal and the same fate may just befall the North West province,” Matebesi further adds.
ALSO READ - #BreakingNews: North West's Mokgoro resigns
Premier Maape was elected by the IPC to succeed former premier, Job Mokgoro, who was fired by the ANC.
