Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Sunday confirmed that the party’s national working committee (NWC), which is on an organisational and governance oversight visit in Limpopo, was open to engaging calls by regions for the axing of provincial party chairperson Stan Mathabatha.
The calls come after Mathabatha failed to influence Limpopo delegates to ditch President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Nasrec conference in December and rather support Zweli Mkhize.
Mathabatha’s call went against the Limpopo ANC’s general council, a structure made up of all members of the provincial executive committee and delegates representing branches at the conference, which had decided that Ramaphosa was the province’s preferred candidate.
“We are aware that because of what happened during the conference when Mathabatha tried to go against the decisions of the provincial general council, there has since been mobilisation in the ANC in Limpopo against the chairperson,” said Mbalula.
“Those mobilising are saying he [Mathabatha] must go… He misbehaved because the province had a position that Ramaphosa must be president, then he became a bhubesi [lion – the name Mkhize supporters called themselves during the elective conference].”
The ANC secretary-general’s utterances come as Ramaphosa and members of the NWC were inundated by calls for Mathabatha to be disciplined for attempting to change the mandate of delegates at the eleventh hour.
NWC members engaged regions on Saturday, and there were overwhelming calls for Mathabatha and his deputy Florence Radzilani, who also tried to sway Limpopo delegates to vote for Mkhize, to be disciplined.
Some regions are said to have been calling on the removal of the entire provincial executive committee (PEC), citing concerns over its inaction against Mathabatha and Radzilani.
Speaking to journalists at the Bolivia Lodge in Polokwane, where the ANC’s NWC is meeting with the PEC, Mbalula said that careful consideration needed to be taken before removing leaders from their positions.
Mbalula said:
“The fundamental question should be, what is it that he is doing as a premier, as a chairperson, that is undermining the cohesion of the province?”
The NWC members led by Ramaphosa met with the PEC in a meeting that started at 10:00 and was expected to end around 16:00.
Mbalula said among the things that would be discussed included the report on the VBS Mutual Bank and what the province had done to remedy the trust deficit that was created by the involvement of senior ANC members in the alleged looting of the bank.
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Mbalula said the NWC had chosen to visit Limpopo as the province was the ANC’s stronghold, and its residents had, time and again, voted overwhelmingly for the ANC.
He added that the significant challenges in Limpopo were water provision, dilapidated roads, and load shedding, which were challenges for the entire country.
“We have committed that if our public servants don’t perform, they will be removed with the necessary speed. Our people are not interested in internal ANC squabbles, especially who gets elected or not,” said Mbalula.
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