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Vathiswa Ruselo, Gallo Images / Sowetan
- DA and EFF in the northwest have described the ANC’s failed bid in the province to withdraw the troikas as factional battles.
- The EFF in the province says the ANC’s interim provincial committee is looking to access resources for an upcoming conference.
- The district attorney has asked voters to reject the ANC at the local government ballot box next year, saying that a functional and prosperous Northwest will be possible if the party is eliminated.
Opposition parties in the northwest have described a decision by the ANC’s interim provincial committee (IPC) in the province to withdraw five troikas in municipalities as nothing more than factional politics, and they want nothing to do with it.
The DA and the EFF say they will not help the ANC remove mayors, speakers and whips in five municipalities after a party call for them to resign failed.
The affected municipalities are Mahikeng, Ditsabotla, Maquassi Hills, Matlosana and Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati.
Last week, the ANC interim leadership spokesman Kenny Morolong told News24 that the interim provincial working committee would meet to discuss the situation and chart a way forward.
The party had described this as part of cleaning up a province marked by poor service provision and constant political battles within the ANC.
But the opposition parties would not accept it.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with the provision of services, we are just witnessing the internal struggles of the ANC,” EFF provincial president Matshidiso Botswe told News24.
He said that if the IPC’s intentions were genuine, it would have targeted more troubled municipalities.
“Those who are not acting are not part of the troikas that are being withdrawn, they only think of Bojanala, Ngaka Modiri Molema or even JB Marks,” continued the provincial president of the EFF.
The province has been under administration since 2018, and the province has also administered numerous municipalities.
The collapse of service delivery, financial difficulties and political instability have been cited among the reasons behind the intervention.
Auditor General Kimi Makwetu said that none of the municipalities in the province had achieved a clean audit.
Mess
DA provincial leader Joe McGluwa not only echoed similar sentiments in his statement, but also urged other opposition parties to back down.
“The time has come to let the ANC deal with the mess it has created,” McGluwa said.
He said opposition parties should not “give credit” to the “futile exercise”, which will see one group of ANC leaders being replaced by another group.
The DA leader said his party had warned that the IPC’s decision would be rejected, adding that the current battle unfolding in the platinum-rich province is not new.
“The ANC is trying to realign the preferred factions to positions of power and access to resources to continue looting and stealing taxpayer money, which is ultimately the goal of this withdrawal,” he argued.
Botswe expressed similar sentiments, saying that when one reads the situation in the Northwest one should never forget that a provincial conference is on the horizon for the ruling party, and that many were struggling to access resources for their campaigns.
“The ANC in the Northwest exists solely for its own selfish interests. It is time for the people of the Northwest to reject and abandon the ANC at the polls next year,” McGluwa said.
He said the province still had the potential to become functional and prosperous, but that the only way to achieve this was by expelling the ANC.
