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An ANC flag.
Vathiswa Ruselo, Gallo Images / Sowetan
- The Northwest ANC interim provincial working committee will meet on Friday on retired mayors, speakers and whips.
- It is understood that only six of the 15 officials who were asked to resign, had resigned.
- The interim provincial committee also dismissed allegations that it is purging municipal leaders linked to former prime minister Supra Mahumapelo.
The Northwest ANC provincial interim committee (IPC) is scheduled to meet on Friday, after days of trying to remove 15 officials in five municipalities in the province.
The IPC had given five troikas, which are made up of mayors, speakers and whip bosses, as a Wednesday deadline to vacate their offices.
However, the majority of those affected refused, and some called the structure unconstitutional and tried to use those municipalities for battles between factions in the party.
News24 understands that at least six had submitted resignations, but IPC spokesman Kenny Morolong declined to confirm the number, saying the provincial working committee would compile and prepare a report on how the week unfolded.
“The reluctance of some of our deployed to resign is indicative of an entrenched culture of poor discipline in the province,” Morolong told News24 on Thursday.
The ANC is currently attempting to clean up its image in the wake of mounting protests over leaders’ involvement in corruption and has since called on leaders facing corruption or any other serious charges to “step aside. “.
However, this did not produce the desired results, and leaders such as former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and Bongani Bongo refused to budge.
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Eleven municipalities were supposed to be affected by the removal of the IPC, but officials from the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) decided it shouldn’t be such a drastic measure.
“When we met with the NEC officials, we informed them of our decision and they said that we need to have a phased approach, so that we can manage these interventions,” Morolong told News24.
The affected municipalities were Mahikeng, Ditsobotla, Maquassi Hills, Matlosana and Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati.
The province had been hit by poor service delivery and instability, which also resulted in the removal of former Prime Minister Supra Mahumapelo in 2018.
However, that decision did not generate the expected changes, and the recent report by Auditor General Kimi Makwetu found that irregular expenditures in the municipalities of the province amounted to R5.4 billion.
Factions at War
Attempts to unite the warring ANC factions as well were unsuccessful.
On Thursday, the ANC regional secretary in the Ruth Mompati region, Gaolatlhe Kgabo, held a press conference in which he questioned the IPC’s decision and why all the troikas were being dealt with at once.
He also asked why people were not being held responsible for wrongdoing on their part.
“There is no ANC that has punished anyone historically and even in recent times, for misconduct or misconduct of common purpose, where the crime of one person becomes the crime of another by political association,” said the regional secretary.
Kgabo, often seen as an ally of Mahumapelo, made a series of accusations against the ANC’s NEC and the IPC, accusing the party’s highest decision-making body of throwing “to the wolves” the imprisoned former MMC Nelson Mandela Bay, Andile Lungisa.
He also said that branches in his region were shocked by the decision made by the IPC.
“As branches, we also know and believe that authority in the ANC is not exercised vindictively, fractionally, arbitrarily, or spitefully,” Kgabo said.
He said the dismissals were to ensure that a faction linked to the IPC was in charge of municipalities to dispense sponsorship, when the long-awaited and long-awaited provincial conference was finally convened.
“We will not bow down and glorify your fractional decision-making inclination,” he said.
But Morolong dismissed the claims. “The problem for those who seek to problematize IPC decisions is their propensity to individualize them,” Morolong said.
He said that no decision was made by individuals, but was instead the opinion of a collective CIP.
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